A Gift of Education, From First Grade Through High School

ALTADENA —  At all the right moments, the 60 children clapped. They even shouted “Thank you!” after hearing that they were the latest batch of students adopted by the I Have a Dream Foundation.

The entire first-grade class of Franklin Elementary School in Altadena on Tuesday became the youngest children ever adopted by the organization that has promised them not only tutoring and counseling support until they finish high school but also college scholarships.

Although few of the children actually knew what the ceremony in the school auditorium was all about, some of the 150 parents and school staff in the audience grew teary-eyed at the implications of the gift, estimated to be worth more than $2 million.

“I just don’t have the words to say how happy I am,” said Principal Caroline Bermudez-Marin. The majority of Franklin’s students come from low-income families, she said. “It’s really going to make an impact, not just on these students but the rest of the students. It frees up staff and resources for the other grade levels.”

The children paraded up the aisle and then walked across the stage to shake hands with a multitude of adults.

“A lot of it is over their heads,” said teacher Bill Glenn. “At 6 or 7, it’s hard to get a grasp on graduating from high school or going to college.”

Since its founding in 1981, I Have a Dream has adopted about 12,000 children nationwide and more than 700 in the Los Angeles area. Franklin’s program is funded by the Palm Desert-based H.N. & Frances C. Berger Foundation, which adopted 83 third-graders at Cleveland Elementary School in Pasadena in 1992.

Although other I Have a Dream programs have inducted sixth-graders, the Berger Foundation has chosen to begin intervention at an earlier age, said Chris McGuire, vice president for programs at the Berger Foundation.