Each Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., McLean associate Kieran Dickinson
stands before a classroom full of 12-year-old boys and teaches English. Far
from the intricacies of the Technology Transactions group, he spends time
with his students working on writing skills and grammar.

Kieran is part of a program called the Tenley Achievement Program (TAP). TAP
was launched in 1991 to help educate and shape the character of boys in
Washington, D.C. TAP focuses on boys of average ability whose chances of
graduating from high school and going on to college seem low. TAP organizers
believe that between the "troubled youth" and "the best and the brightest"
is the average child who holds tremendous promise.

Kieran became involved in TAP in 2000 when a friend asked him to volunteer
as a mentor. After learning about the program and the fact that one out of
every three students in Washington, D.C. never finishes high school, Kieran
accepted the mentoring position. Finding mentoring to be a fulfilling
experience, Kieran committed to teaching for the 2001-2002 academic year.

TAP's three-hour Saturday sessions take place throughout the academic year
on the campus of Catholic University. The students receive one hour each of
English class and math class and 40 minutes of sports. The boys are taken
out of class every week or two to be mentored one on one. They also attend a
20-minute character building class that focuses on the virtues that will
steer the boys towards self-sufficient adulthood and future roles as
community leaders. Lessons in character also take place throughout the
English and math sessions. Along this line, Kieran is currently using the
Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett as a teaching tool in his English
classes. It is a collection of stories, essays, poems and speeches arranged
with commentary by Bennett to explain various moral virtues such as
self-discipline, compassion, and honesty.

In addition to Kieran's volunteer work with TAP, he and a number of WSGR
attorneys in the McLean office made a financial donation to the program. TAP
is part of an umbrella organization called the Youth Leadership Foundation
(YLF). A similar program called the Program for Academic Leadership (PAL)
exists for young girls in the community. For more information contact
Michael Barvick at YLF, 4300 Garrison St., N.W., Washington, DC, 20016,
(202) 362-2419.