David Sidebottom wants middle-schoolers to start creating choices for themselves; choices that go beyond the gamut of A-B to A-Z.

First up: the choice to stay in school and earn a high-school degree. That's why he's running the CHOICES program, a two-hour, in-school presentation geared toward reducing the dropout rate in schools. Initially started by the Bank of America a decade ago, Santa Fe Century Bank has teamed with Thornburg Investment Management to finance the program, designed for eighth- and ninth-graders in Santa Fe.

It's sort of like a Scared Straight program with finance rather than felons as the motivating force — though Sidebottom is really nice and relaxed with the kids. A father of two children in Santa Fe Public Schools and co-chair for the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce's Education Committee, Sidebottom applies common-sense business skills to the presentation, emphasizing that staying in school equates to higher earnings and a happier life.

"I care about the decisions you guys are making," he said to a class of Capshaw middle-schoolers from home economics teacher Carolyn Barnett's class earlier this month. He stressed that someday they may be serving as police officers, doctors, lawyers or artists within this community.

Sidebottom asked the teens to look over a list of 30 "Take Charge" factors — appearance, attitude, gender, height, reputation, year of birth and so on — and choose ones they have control over. He ran volunteers from the class through interactive presentations in which he demonstrated time and again that a high-school diploma will net them greater earnings and security than no diploma, while additional educational achievements (college) will benefit them even more.

He put them through mock job interviews (stressing the need to present a professional appearance), and, in a very amusing bit, demonstrated how much of every paycheck goes to necessities. By taking away money for rent, utilities, income tax and groceries from a teen volunteer pretending to be a high school drop-out earning $10-an-hour, he left the poor girl at least $50 per-month in debt — and without anything to spend on vacations or going to the movies.

Sidebottom — who admitted to the kids that he himself didn't like school and only did the bare minimum possible to graduate — gives about 40 of these presentations a year. Throughout the event, he emphasized the need for the kids to take responsibility for their education. "I think it's pretty onerous to put all the responsibility for the dropout rate on teachers," he said.

"Someone has to shock these kids into the reality of this situation. I hope I convince them to stay in school."

I asked the class of roughly 22 students if any of them were considering dropping out. They all said no. One boy nonetheless asked Sidebottom, "What if you drop out and you're really, really, really smart?"

Before he could answer, another boy replied, "You're still stupid."

Barnett said even if Sidebottom only reaches one of her kids, that's success. His goal is much more ambitious: "My hope would be that we see a drastic change in the graduation rate and a huge reduction in the dropout rate," he said, noting that the graduation rate of Santa Fe Public Schools is listed as somewhere between 56 percent and 59 percent, based on various reports. The state-wide average for 2010 was about 67 percent, according to the state's Public Education Department.

If you want to contact Sidebottom regarding the presentation, call him at 995-1251 or email him at david.sidebottom@centurybnk.com.

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or at rnott@sfnewmexican.com.