Published: October 28, 2009

Last May 14, State Representative Betty Reed presided over the third annual National Letter of Intent Signing ceremony. The event was held at Blake High School. It was an event you would normally associate with sport athletes signing million dollars contracts. But instead, it was an event where over 36 graduating high school students signed letters of intent agreements to attend colleges and universities across the country.

(L-R) Doretha Edgecomb and Betty Reed

Betty Reed represents house district 59. All of the graduates were from that district. It would be great if this type of ceremony was held county wide and included all of the high school graduations.

When I received the invitation to attend the high school graduation, I thought to myself, if I have seen one graduation, then I have seen them all. How wrong I was. This was definitely not the graduation that I recalled attending when I graduated from Miami Killian High School in 1970.

In attendance were many proud parents, dignitaries, school board members and officials, politicians, and many special invited guests. Blake high school students, dressed as chefs, prepared and served a delicious meal.

The highlight of the night was watching the parents of the graduates as they were signing their contracts to attend the various colleges and universities.

State Representative Betty Reed says, “As a champion advocate for education and underrepresented students, I wanted to introduce legislation that would have an impact on all students and encourage them seek out higher education.  So, I sponsored – and the legislature passed- HB 403, Florida Partnership for Minority and Underrepresented Student Achievement.

This bill amended Florida Statute 1007.35, The Florida Partnership for Minority and Underrepresented Student Achievement Act by requiring the Partnerships established in the Minority Student Achievement Act to work with Florida’s School District’s by –
o Identifying minority and underrepresented students for participation in Advance Placement (AP) and other advanced courses.
o Providing information to students and parents regarding the opportunities to take Advance Placement (AP) and other advanced courses.
o Providing information to parents, teachers, counselors, administrators, school districts, community colleges and state universities regarding opportunities to take the PSAT/NMSQT or PLAN.

I fought to get this bill passed because I wanted to make sure that parents were aware of their children’s academic PSAT scores and be made aware of the opportunities to take the PSAT. Additionally, I wanted to make sure that all students were identified and given the same opportunities to take Advance Placement (AP) courses.

I didn’t just stop after advocating academic excellence with the legislature.  I promoted academic excellence at the grass-roots level as well by hosting an Academic Signing Day Dinner.
Often times, we celebrate when student athletes sign letters of intent to attend college. I feel this is a good thing because it means another student has the opportunity to pursue a higher education.  So, with the dinner, I wanted to re-enact the ATHLETIC letter signing with an ACADEMIC letter signing with hopes of making the community realize that District 59 have some of the best of the brightest students. 

With that said, in continuing with my promoting academic excellence in District 59, I hosted my First Annual Academic Singing Day Dinner the first year I was elected.  We started out with 21 students in attendance that graduated with four (4) Advance Placement (AP) courses.  Two years later, after we raised the bar, I’m proud to announce that the 2009 3rd Annual Academic Dinner honored more than 40 students from the Class of 2009 (that reside within District 59) that graduated from Hillsborough County public high schools with six (6) or more college-level Advanced Placement (AP) classes. 

I wanted to recognize and congratulate the students that reside in my District for their academic achievement.  Through this grass-roots effort, my hope is to promote academic excellence in District 59 and throughout Hillsborough County. In keeping with this tradition, I hope to see more students from my district continue to challenge themselves to excel in high school and continue in college. 

Doretha W. Edgecomb, School Board Member says , “Representative Reed must first of all be congratulated for focusing on academic success and celebrating dreams achieved by students who have so worked hard and committed themselves to their goals. The “Signing of the Letter of Intent” is modeled after the process that athletes do across this country as they commit to the colleges or universities of choice. So much attention is given to this “rite of passage” in sports. And to model this letter signing and lauding it, is validation that achieving in the classroom is equally as important and valued as achieving in any of the sport arenas. Both are important and this annual event clearly sends that message to our scholars - that being smart is recognized and the signing is a public commitment to excellence and the promise to continue to excel. It is a wonderful celebration for students and their families. Our school district is so thrilled to have such a partner to help us acknowledge the success of these students.”

I thought this was a wonderful event. It would be great if the business community got involved with this noble recognition of our high school graduates.