NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development will present its Distinguished Alumnus Award to Chris Barbic, founder and head of YES College Preparatory Schools, of Houston, Texas, during Commencement, Friday, May 12.
The annual award recognizes significant career and community achievements, as well as a reputation of excellent character and a respected and ethical work record.
Barbic graduated from Vanderbilt in 1992, making him the youngest ever recipient of the award. In 1998, he sought and was granted one of Texas’ first school charters to establish YES College Preparatory School. Charter schools receive public dollars but have greater control over their budget, staff and curriculum than traditional public schools. YES has since grown to three campuses enrolling 1,200 students from 6th through 12th grades. Approximately 90 percent of the school’s population is made up of Latino students who are second-generation citizens.
“Chris Barbic combines many of the qualities Peabody seeks to instill in its graduates: a belief in the power of education, a commitment to service and an entrepreneurial spirit,” Camilla Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development, said. “Not only is Chris changing the lives of disadvantaged students in Houston, he has become a leader within the charter school movement nationwide.”
“My coursework in human and organizational development at Peabody helped tremendously in establishing YES. What I learned about team building, about leadership, about systems thinking—all of these things are crucial to running an educational organization on three campuses,” said Barbic.
A double major in English and human and organizational development, Barbic was headed toward law school until he chose to participate in Teach for America, a national organization that places recent college graduates in low-performing schools for two-year periods of service.
Barbic taught sixth grade at Rusk Elementary in Houston’s East End, an area with a predominantly Latino low-income population. In 1995, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) recognized him as Outstanding Young Educator.
After learning that some of his formerly successful students encountered problems with drugs, gangs and teenage pregnancy at the neighborhood middle school, Barbic petitioned HISD to allow students to remain at Rusk as participants in Project YES (Youth Engaged in Service). In addition to a rigorous curriculum, students were required to participate in community service.
The YES model focuses on preparing students for college through rigorous coursework, longer school days, service-learning Saturdays, a mandatory three-week summer session, yearly college research trips and a comprehensive college counseling program. As stipulated in the YES charter, students must be accepted to a four-year college or university in order to graduate from high school.
Eighty percent of YES alumni are in college or have graduated from college, compared to a national average of 10 percent for Latinos ages 25 to 29. In March, the Houston Press listed YES as third on a top-ten list of the city’s best public high schools.
In 2002, Barbic was appointed to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. He has also received a Citizen Activist Award from the Gleitsman Foundation and a BRICK Award from Do Something, Inc., a national youth service organization.
On receiving the Distinguished Alumnus award, Barbic said, “Vanderbilt is a prestigious institution and has produced many great people. It has quality students and quality alumni. It’s a huge honor for me just to be mentioned in such company.”
Barbic is married to Natasha Kamrani, whom he met as a fellow Teach for America corps member. Kamrani practices law in Houston and also serves as a board member for HISD. They have two children, Tatiana and Ramiz.
Media contact: Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
Melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu