It’s an unlikely place to find students bedecked in the crimson and blue of the University of Kansas. But thanks to the enthusiastic volunteerism of 50 African-American 11th-graders, the Eaton Academy Charter School in Eastpointe, Mich., looks a lot like Jayhawk Nation.

Life is hardscrabble for many of these Detroit-area students. But they are focused on creating opportunities for themselves while serving others—and they are using KU as their conduit.

Recently, the class of juniors selected KU for Eaton’s “University Adoption Program,” an initiative to spur their thinking about college attendance. They also chose to work with KU’s Audio-Reader, a service for the blind and visually impaired across the state of Kansas, as their community service project.

“The idea of attending college was a distant dream for many of these youngsters, let alone attending an out-of-state school,” said Bob Lantry, an Audio-Reader volunteer whose daughter teaches the 11th-graders at Eaton. “Now, they all want to go to KU. Whenever one of the students gets an ‘A’ on an assignment, all the students stand and wave the wheat.”

Guided by the Lantrys, the Eaton juniors have been studying services that Audio-Reader makes available to the visually impaired. The students also have been raising money for the service by selling candy canes over the holidays and holding raffles. At the end of the year, the funds will be given to Audio-Reader.

The affection between the students and Audio-Reader runs in both directions. For instance, upon learning of the students’ work for Audio-Reader, the program sent to Eaton a box containing Braille cards and Audio-Reader brochures, notepads, pens and stickers. Additionally, Bob Lantry purchased 50 Audio-Reader T-shirts and shipped them to Michigan.

Lantry’s daughter Joni is delighted with the relationship her students have formed with the University.

“I want to express how important this is to my students,” said Joni Lantry Kostich. “So many of them see little hope for leaving Detroit and have very little expectation from the world around them. Many of the already enthusiastic learners are motivated even further than before, and the underachievers started volunteering ideas and work for what is probably a first for many of them.”

Members of the Audio-Reader Development Committee are encouraging the Eaton juniors by writing them letters and promoting contact with Detroit-area KU alumni and Lions clubs.

The interaction with KU has inspired the 11th-graders during an important moment as they ponder their educational futures. Among these students, displaying Audio-Reader T-shirts and other KU gear is illustrative of their genuine affection for the University.

Randy Austin of Audio-Reader sent a box of KU T-shirts to encourage the students further.

“The kids were so excited,” Lantry Kostich said of the T-shirts. “They may never take them off.”

According to Lantry Kostich, her students are more energized by this project than any other she has seen in her 23 years of teaching. The juniors at Eaton have become fans of KU athletics and even have brushed up on their geographic knowledge to strengthen ties with the University.

She says, “One student said, ‘I want to go to Kansas. Where is Kansas?’”

So the students consulted maps. After locating Kansas, they pinpointed KU’s main campus in Lawrence. Someday, perhaps many of these Eaton Academy students will be on campus in person, both as incoming students and freshmen volunteers at Audio-Reader.