Latonya Davis (left), and her cousin Ronisha Ramsey (Provided photo)

Latonya Davis (Class of 1997, Eureka High School) admits to "culture shock" when she first entered the deseg program. But she quickly adapted, enjoying the environment ("the trees!"), the "fun" teachers and eventually becoming a cheerleader. She endured the occasional racial joke and the accusations of being a "sellout" by other black students. Today she's a teacher at Valley Park, where she helps another generation of transfer students.

Reggie Blackwell, then and now. (provided photo)  

Reggie Blackwell (Class of 1989, Ritenour) didn't particularly like getting up at 5:30 every morning to make the bus at 6:15 a.m. But he says the experience broadened him socially, showing him "a bigger world, bigger goals." Blackwell also believes that suburban kids benefited; their cultural horizons were broadened, too. The only downside of the deseg program, said Blackwell, is that it hurt the quality of the city public schools.    

Harlan Hodge (Class of 1992, Parkway North) didn't consider himself a deseg student. "I'm a Parkway student," he says. "I'm a Viking 'til I die." Hodge gloried in all Parkway's "good stuff" – the computers, the resources, the teachers, the field trips – and he said he took full advantage of them. Any fears of not being accepted proved to be unfounded.

Sandy Weis' two daughters started out in a city Montessori magnet, and both graduated from the Gateway Institute of Technology, one in 2002 and the other in 2003. At first, friends were mystified. "How can you send your kids to the city, how can they get a good education there?" they would ask. But Weis said it was an enriching experience for them. The teachers were great, and her daughters, deluged with birthday party invitations to the homes of their school friends, discovered the city's various neighborhoods.