Chuck Licis-Masson, executive director of the Monroe County Education Foundation, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about Take Stock in Children.
Before we know it, graduation will be upon us.
Licis-Masson said, “I know students are probably looking at that finish line at the end of May with anticipation. They have about a few more weeks of April left for the curriculum. AP testing will start in early May, and seniors are gearing up for graduation. High school graduation is going to be the week of memorial Monday, so that week of memorial Monday, it will be May 16. Saturday, May 16 at 11am Marathon High School Auditorium, we try to be the first ceremony so our students can receive their medallions, which they’ll wear during their high school graduations, as well as their certificates and their Florida Prepaid scholarship account numbers that they have really well deserved and earned over the last four to six years of being in Take Stock in Children.”
The program began in the late 1990s.
Licis-Masson said, “We graduated our first graduating class in 2001 with six students. I’d like to describe us as the premier mentoring program in Monroe County with scholarship opportunities for our most deserving kids. Our students can come from economically challenged households. They have to prove income as they cannot exceed a certain threshold, and this is due to Florida Prepaid purchase scholarships for our students through Florida Prepaid College Foundation. Those are matched by the state, and they are designated for students of a certain income or below. And so our families have to prove that income when they do apply. The student also has to be in good academic standing. We look at students with a 2.0 grade point average. So if you have all C’s, you have a 2.0 and if you have C’s and above, you have probably a 2.5 or higher. And we look for students who don’t have D’s or F’s, that they’re excelling in their classes and they have a desire to go beyond high school, whether it might be a college degree or a career certificate, that we encourage our students to look at Career, Technical Education opportunities as well.”
The program includes mentoring.
Licis-Masson said, “That is why we’re a premier mentoring program. We have 401 students in the program throughout the county, from Key Largo School to Key West, and that means we have 401 mentors, because it’s one on one mentoring, and a lot of our community members are volunteer mentors. They come from all walks of life. We have a lot of second homeowners here that come down in the wintertime, and they mentor while they’re down here from October to April. And then we have an app, and they can mentor virtually through that app as well in September and in May to sort of bookend the school year, and then they don’t mentor in the summertime or during school break. So it’s a very rewarding program, not only for the student, but also for volunteer mentors. I hear a lot from our mentors who feel like they’re getting more out of the program than they’re giving, in some cases, because they really enjoy meeting with these young men and women and seeing them grow from sixth grade through 12th grade and graduating and going off to college or that career technical education program.”
How do Take Stock in Children students do in academic performance?
Licis-Masson said, “This year, we have 71 students who are graduating through Take Stock in Children and they are attending more than just the three high schools. We have the three main high schools in the county, Coral Shores, Marathon and Key West High School. But we also have a senior from Somerset Island prep, a senior from Basilica School in Key West, and one from College of the Florida Keys Academy. So we have three additional new schools. We’re going to recognize seniors from those schools in May, and our students do excel. They take dual enrollment courses as well as the advanced placement courses in many cases. And we look at the grade point average, their average grade point average, and right now this class of 2026, they’re at a 3.68 average weighted GPA, and that tends to be about 10 or 20 tenths of a point above the graduating class. And we also, statistically, run over 10% of the Monroe County graduating class. I was looking at the numbers of AP courses. Our class of 2026 they’ve taken a combined 35 AP courses, and they’ve accumulated 120 college credit hours through dual enrollment already as a class. So they are focused on college education and excelling in their classes and really trying to get into those top schools they really want to get into. Our kids are going to some wonderful places.”
Juniors meet in the spring.
Licis-Masson said, “We’re getting ready to pull our juniors together and we give them what’s called a senior binder, and it’s a binder of everything you need to know through the college application process, and we guide them and walk them through that process. A lot of our students are first generation college students. Their parents did not go through the university system or college system in the United States. They might have been in another country, or they just did not go to a university or college when they were a kid. So our students are navigating a new world, a new pathway, that they need a little guidance. And so we provide that as juniors, and then when they’re seniors, they’re applying to multiple schools. We want them to apply to at least five schools if they’re interested in university or college acceptances. The students who are interested in career technical education, we help them find the program that’s best suited for them in the state of Florida. If they want to go into diesel mechanics or marine mechanics or cosmetology or nursing or firefighting or law enforcement, we guide them in that. We have a list of schools where we point them to those schools and say, well, consider this program or consider that program. But a lot of our students, they’ve applied to multiple schools, as I said, and we have students who have been accepted to Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, University of Central Florida and South Florida, Florida State University. And we have two who have been admitted to University of Florida, which has become quite competitive for our Floridians to get into. Their admission standards are getting harder and harder and more challenging. So I consider that a win. When we have two of our students who are UF bound, and they’ll be soon to be gators in the fall, pretty exciting.”
What are some trends in education, like AI?
Licis-Masson said, “Anytime the we experience a transition from one technology to another, or an advancement in technology, and you can go back in history and look at when we shifted in the industrial age, and how we had to adapt, and the information technology age, and how we had to adapt, and how you and I had to adapt, even when we were in high school and college, but you think back, what is the most formative thing in college that is creating students who can think critically and learn multiple things. We’re teaching them how to absorb information and be learners. So it’s less about a specific topic, because when you enter a college or university program as a college freshman and sophomore, you’re taking general education courses. You’re learning how to study and how to excel and how to think critically and provide your opinion and support your opinion in those classes, and then you hone in on your specific so if you’re going in the field of medicine, then you start digging into biology and chemistry and your sciences and other fields. Similarly, math, for example, for engineering with AI, that’s a whole other realm, and you really can’t prepare students for AI, but what you can do is prepare students to be good, effective learners, and learn how to adapt and become useful and valuable in the workforce as this emerges.”
Sometimes it feels like AI does the thinking for the student.
Licis-Masson suggested, “Or you can flip it and say, you have to think critically and question what AI produces, and investigate that and think, do I believe and trust whatever tool you use is producing what you’re looking for? And so it might give an opportunity for a student to dive into that critical thinking and investigation and research as well. I taught French, and one of the exciting things that I discovered learning, not only learning French, but also teaching it to students, is I told my students, you’re learning something that you do not know how to do. You’ve been adding since you were a child, you’ve been speaking English since you’re a child, so English and math, you’re just building on concepts, but French is new. A second language is a new concept that you have to learn, and you’re creating new synapses in your brain, and you’re learning how to learn something new. And that’s what’s exciting about universities and colleges, that you take these courses and you learn something outside of your wheelhouse, and I encourage students to do that, to take an elective course that would challenge them, that won’t sink them, but challenge them to continue that curiosity of learning.”
There is also an opportunity for dual enrollment with the College of the Florida Keys.
Licis-Masson said, “They offer courses through the high school at no cost to the student, as the student has to test into those programs, so they take a test so they have to meet certain requirements in order to enroll in a dual enrollment course in math or English, or any other subject area, and they’re taking a college level course, so they are earning college credits while in high school. The College of the Florida Keys Academy, their students take courses at the college. We have a couple of students who, in the past, have earned their associate’s degree before they even graduate high school. And that’s similar over at Somerset Island prep. They also take college courses while in high school. So for the right student, and I always preface that, for this, for the right student, it is a fantastic program if the student is unable to keep up, though, the caveat is, the challenge is, if you do not excel in that dual enrollment course, and you earn a non passing grade, you fail that course, now you have a non passing grade on your college transcript. So we talk to our students that this is serious. If you’re there to get dual enrollment course, you have to commit to this class like you are in college as well as in high school. You have a lot of responsibilities because you don’t want to start off with an F on your college transcript before you graduate high school.”
How many Take Stock in Children students will graduate this year?
Licis-Masson said, “We’re graduating 71. We did have five students who transferred out of our county. They moved to another county, and they’re in a Take Stock program there. So even though we lose them physically here in Monroe, they still are part of Monroe County Education Foundation. So they will be awarded a scholarship as well if they complete successfully the program in Miami Dade or Pinellas, or wherever they move to. So we have those five students, so we’re at 76 total for this coming May. And then, enrollment wise, we continue to grow. We brought in over 110 close to 120 students this year. We’re at 401. I think we have a few more applications to consider before the end of the month. So our students are applying, and they’re getting into the program. And so right now, we’re wrapping up the year, but we’re also looking at ‘26-’27 that sits around the corner. We’re looking at August, the beginning of the school year in August, and how we start our program to make sure that we are efficient and effective and providing the services that our students need.”
Funding is also critical for the program.
Licis-Masson said, “We’ll fundraise around $600,000 to $800,000. Typically, we raise around $800,000 and it’s matched by the state so that allows us to purchase scholarships valued up to 1.6 million, which adds to our student intake. So when I purchase scholarships now, I’m looking at my students who are in grade five and grade four coming up into grade six in a year or two, I have to have a scholarship for those students when they come into the program, because we park a scholarship on that student. It follows that student all the way through middle school and high school, and if they successfully complete the program, we activate that scholarship, and they’re able to use it. So I’m buying plans that will mature, eight years out, 10 years out, right now, for those students, and we’re also buying dormitory plans because for our students to go to the mainland and go to university, that’s a win in of itself, but they have to have a place to live, and that’s been the roadblock for a lot of our students. They did not have housing. So we provide two year dormitory plans for students who are accepted to university, and that covers their housing for two years, which gives them the opportunity to live on campus, be part of the campus life. It helps them go to classes a lot easier. Because you’re a commuter student, you have a lot of obstacles to go from your apartment or wherever you live, to drive to the school, to park, to walk to the class, to get there under time. That can be challenging, but if you can just roll out of bed, walk across the quad to your classroom, that’s a lot easier. So we want our students to be able to live on campus, so we purchase those dorm plans too.”
What challenges are college students facing in today’s world?
Licis-Masson said, “Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University, FIU is growing tremendously. It is amazing how it’s growing, and they’re trying to keep up, so they have a freshman class that’s coming in, but they don’t have enough housing for the entire freshman class, so our students have to be first in that list of the housing, which can be challenging. So we have had some housing issues where our students are able to find housing at the last minute. We also have a program with Southern Scholarship Foundation. Those are cooperative living homes, single sex homes. So they have homes for young men and for young women, and they have to maintain an academic grade point average, no drugs or alcohol and crime and drug free, similar to Take Stock in Children requirements. And those houses are in Tallahassee and Gainesville, and they accept our Florida Prepaid dormitory plans as well. So we have students who do apply to Southern Scholarship Foundation who go to either Santa Fe or University of Florida in Gainesville, or to Florida Agricultural Mechanical University, FAMU or Florida State in Tallahassee, as well as the State College in Tallahassee. They have housing through that organization as well. But it is a challenge, and right now, unfortunately, the demand is exceeding the inventory of housing in the state of Florida for university campuses.”
Donations also help Take Stock in Children.
Licis-Masson said, “Any amount of contribution you can give is meaningful. We have great support from the Rotary Clubs throughout the county. Ocean Reef has been phenomenal. I want to shout out to Keys Children’s Foundation. They’re an Ocean Reef, and they contributed $150,000 to our program for the Upper Keys, which will be matched to $300,000 for me to be able to buy more scholarships for our growing program. We’re exceeding our expectations in the Upper Keys. We’re at 138 students. We’ve never had 138 students in the Upper Keys, and we’d have more students who want to come to the program. So that funding is important. But from that size of a gift down to $100 or $500 or $1,000, everything is meaningful because it goes towards scholarships to help our students earn college education or career technical education certificate. So to find out more, they can contact our office at 305-293-1546, or go to the website.”
For more information, click here: https://monroecountyedfound.com/about-take-stock