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Tilden's Jerome Jemps Tilden's Jerome Jemps knows that he is just days away from the experience of a lifetime. The world as the 17-year-old senior knows it is about to change. Jemps was one of 17 high schoolers named by the PSAL to a New York City soccer All-Star team that will fly to Ghana this Saturday. The team will spend a week touring the West African country before challenging a team of its standout soccer players on Dec. 30. In September, each PSAL soccer coach nominated a player for the trip. The league reviewed nominations and selected the roster in October. Players were chosen based on statistics and attitude. Jemps notched 11 goals and four assists, helping the Blue Devils to an 8-0-4 regular-season record and the Brooklyn A Central Division title. "He earned it," said Tilden soccer co-coach Tony Crescitelli, about Jemps' trip to Africa. "He was out there on the field in the heat every day in the summer from 1-4 P.M. working on his game. He's such an unselfish player that I asked him to be more selfish as a goal scorer. I know he's going to make us proud in Africa." The Blue Devils were supposed to meet Martin Luther King in the quarterfinal round of the city championship tournament, but were disqualfied after a league-wide investigation turned up two 19-year-olds on Tilden's roster. PSAL rules state that a player is ineligible if he or she turns 19 before July 1. After the disappointing ending, Jemps went from feeling bummed out to ecstatic when he learned that he would be flying to Africa - a continent he has never visited - to play soccer. "I couldn't believe it when I found out I'd be going to Africa to play soccer," said Jemps, who will be teamed with other city players including Brooklyn Tech's Christian Esposito and defending champion Martin Luther King's Steven Amaya. "I want to represent Tilden well in Ghana. Everyone is telling me to score a goal for them." The news of Jemps' selection also serves as a bright spot for the East Flatbush school, for reasons that extend beyond the soccer pitch. The Board of Education last week announced plans to phase out Tilden and four other under-performing public schools - South Shore, Lafayette, Urban Peace Academy and the School for the Physical City - by 2010. The schools were flagged for low test scores and below-average graduation rates. In 2005, Tilden posted a graduation rate of 42.8%, lagging behind the citywide mark of 58.2% and performing considerably lower than other borough schools such as Brooklyn Tech (94.7%), Midwood (84%) and Madison (73.2%), said Department of Education spokeswoman Marge Feinberg. Tilden was previously named among the most violent public schools in the state in August. "It's like we have been set up to fail," said Tilden soccer co-coach Sal Sparacino, about the school's faltering performance and hardscrabble reputation. "When Madison and Midwood don't accept students, they send them to us and we have to work with them," Sparacino added. "Tilden is looked at like a dangerous school, but use Jemps as an example. There are tons of good kids at Tilden." The players will be accompanied by Beacon coach Alec Mahrer, Petrides coach Nick Kvasic, PSAL soccer commissioner Vito Rizzi and PSAL director Donald Douglas. The group will fly out of JFK on Saturday and arrive in Ghana a day later. In addition to holding daily practices, the players will spend the week touring Ghana, a former British colony that will mark its 50th year of independence in 2007. The players will also meet former Ghanaian soccer great Abedi Pele before returning to New York on Jan. 1. "Our players will be ambassadors for the PSAL, New York City and America while they're in Ghana," Rizzi said. "It's going to be great." The trip's $70,000 cost is being paid by Snapple Beverage Corp. under the company's licensing agreement with city schools, said Department of Education spokeswoman Marge Feinberg.