Neida Robles wants to be a doctor. Brandon Henderson wants to be a lawyer, a pastor, or maybe both. And Varyssa Henderson wants to be a superstar.

"Or a teacher, if I don't get that job," said Varyssa, 9.

All three, ages 8 to 11, are working with the Emily Krzyzewski Center to help make those dreams come true.

Earlier this year, The Emily K's Center and its mission to improve the community and break the cycle of poverty within families celebrated its fifth anniversary. Neida, Brandon, and Varyssa are among 130 kids from about 35 Durham schools participating in the center's kindergarten to college model, which seeks to help low-income students with academic promise succeed.

"We are committed to being a difference maker or providing life-changing opportunities in Durham for low-income kids who have all the potential, are fully capable and really just need that opportunity that is going to help them be successful in their goal to get to college," said Adam Eigenrauch, the center's executive director.

In addition, about 1,500 community members use the 29,000 square foot center on the corner of West Chapel Hill Street and Buchanan Boulevard. The facility, named after Duke University's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski's mother, Emily, has a gymnasium with the 2001 NCAA Championship floor from the team's victory in Minneapolis.

"Duke University men's basketball players are all familiar with Emily Krzyzewski because Coach K often cites her as an example of the toughness, perseverance and caring that are trademarks of Duke's perennially powerful team," the center's website says. "On top of his mother's love, tenacity and work ethic, an important ally in Mike Krzyzewski's trajectory to the top of the coaching profession was a community center that became a second home to him, a place that provided invaluable support to him and to his family, and changed his life."

Mike Krzyzewski helped establish the center to bring an opportunity to Durham like the one that helped him climb from humble beginning in Chicago's North Side, representatives of the center said. He also chairs the board.

Free programs

The center's K-to-college model encompasses two free programs that serve students during the school year and in the summer. To be admitted to the programs, which serves kids who receive free and reduced price lunches, families submit an application, go through an interview process and commit to various requirements.

"Pioneer Scholars" serves elementary and middle-school students, who spend about 10 hours a week in after-school programming that includes working with a certified teacher, who establishes their curriculum, and other volunteers.

Brandon, a rising sixth grader who is moving from Pearsontown Elementary to the Durham Nativity School, said he applied to the school after he saw how it helped his older sister. His schedule at the center touched on different skills each day, he said. For examples, Monday usually included discussions and rewards centered on his use of the "six pillars" - integrity, respect, heart, honesty, hard work and high expectations. Other days might include writing in a journal, or math and science games.

"Academically, I have moved up four levels in reading," Brandon said.

Newly admitted students are tested to establish a benchmark. After one year at the center, students average a nearly 10 percent increase in their math and reading scores, Eigenrauch said.

The "Scholars to College" program seeks to help students transition into high school and then college via three hours of programming a week and extra-curricular requirements such as volunteering. The center is also exploring a program to work and keep up with students when they go to college, said Heather Hindin, the center's educational program coordinator.

Gaining confidence

Edmi Conejo, a 17-year-old rising junior at Jordan High School, said before she started the program she expected to drop out of high school and start working. Now in her third year, Edmi has gained confidence and built a new vision that includes college and a career in the medical profession.

"They made me see I could actually go to college," she said. "There is nothing holding me back."

The program has helped Stacey Smalls-Everett's daughter Jasmine Everett, a 17-year-old rising senior at Durham School of the Arts, manage her time and take initiative. The program has helped the mother to understand the importance of monitoring her children on the Internet, and her daughter to prepare a competitive resume for college, Small-Everett said.

"I have seen her grow as an individual," Smalls-Everett said.

Varyssa, the aspiring "superstar," and fifth-grader at Hope Valley Elementary, said when she first started the program, she had a bad temper and was prone to throw fits, stomp, and hit something - like a sibling.

"I don't know why," she said. "It was just a habit."

But her time at the center helped her use that energy to build new friendships, chase lead roles at drama camp, and a future that involves stardom or teaching.

"It doesn't really matter to me as long I still get to live my dream of singing," she said.