Payback to the Future

These are the dreams of Eric Loera: to attend College of the Canyons in the fall and, eventually, become an elementary schoolteacher. But dreams can fade when you earn $6.75 an hour and, at 18, are expecting the birth of a child.

Now Loera’s prospects are about to grow brighter.

On Tuesday, the senior from Independence High School in Van Nuys will receive a scholarship to help pay for his first year of college, a gift from parent-turned-benefactor Fred Heim.

For three straight years, Heim, a retired electronics executive, has donated $5,000 to help students and teachers at the continuation school further their education.

Loera is among the latest beneficiaries of Heim’s philanthropy, one of 10 seniors who applied for and won scholarships this year of as much as $500. Nearly half of the continuation school’s 23 seniors will receive college scholarships Tuesday during an awards dinner at the campus, next to Birmingham High School.

Although $500 might not seem like much in the face of steep college tuitions, students say every penny counts.

“Even if it’s $100, it’s something to help you get your foot through the door,” said Loera, who works about 30 hours a week managing a game pavilion at Magic Mountain. “It’s a steppingstone.”

The money also has symbolic value, students say--a gesture from someone who believes in a crop of teenagers written off by skeptics as high school failures.

“It’s about acknowledging what we are trying to accomplish,” said Melissa Kurland, another scholarship recipient headed to San Francisco State University in the fall. “Someone’s saying they are willing to help you.”

Heim says he gives in large measure because Independence High rescued his son, Doug, now 21, who had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder as a child and bounced from one private school to another before he landed--and flourished--at the campus.

Like other continuation schools, Independence High is unconventional. Students work at their own pace, amassing points for completing assignments and using time cards to keep track of their hours in class.

Individual attention is a key to the four-classroom school, which is home to about 120 students, a fraction of the size of traditional public high schools.

Fred Heim discovered Independence High while searching for an alternative for his son, who had previously been at Oakwood Secondary School in North Hollywood and Beverly Hills Prep School.

“Douglas blossomed, absolutely blossomed,” Heim, 71, recalled of his son, who spent his junior and senior years at the campus. “He was so beaten down in his self-image until he went to the school.”

Doug Heim, who just finished his third year at Pierce College and will attend UC San Diego in the fall, said he found a comfortable home at Independence High, a pointed contrast to the private schools where he felt lost in the shuffle.

“It allowed me to succeed instead of being swamped with all this work,” Heim said. “I had teachers who were incredibly encouraging. It allowed me to see what I could do.”

Fred Heim says there is an another motivation for his involvement at Independence High--a desire to help young people who, like him, started with little.

Heim occasionally shares his personal story with students.

At age 12, he fled Nazi Germany with his family, arriving in Kansas City, where his father had relatives. Heim attended public schools. After a stint in the Navy, he made his way to Harvard University on the GI Bill, ultimately earning a master’s in business administration. Several business ventures would follow in the electronics and computer industries.

Heim became a confidant of former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, serving on the governing commissions of the Los Angeles Harbor and the city Department of Water and Power.

“I want the students to know it all starts with one step,” Heim said. “If you put effort out, you will succeed.”

Students aren’t always familiar with Heim’s personal history, but say his modest beginnings are inspiring.

“He struggled and now he’s extending his hand to others who have struggled,” said Brandy Butler, 18, who graduated last year and applied her $500 scholarship toward nursing vocation college. “He’s an example of how I want to come back and help somebody else.”

On Tuesday, after the potluck dinner and after each graduate offers a few personal words, the school will formally recognize Heim.

Principal Cynthia Gladstone will present a certificate of commendation from the Los Angeles Board of Education and a framed letter signed by President Clinton recognizing Heim and his wife, Gail, for their assistance.

“He’s really had a tremendous impact,” Gladstone said of Heim. “He helps the students believe in themselves.”