The Upward Bound program held at SUNY Fredonia is encouraging nearly 100 Chautauqua County high school students this summer to complete high school and go on to succeed in higher education.
“Upward Bound is a college preparedness program; it’s for students in high school who have a desire to go on to college,” said Loretta Torain, Upward Bound director.
While Upward Bound conducts student sessions all year long on campus, the summer provides two programs: an intensive six-week residential program and Summer Excellence, which features classes held on two afternoons each week. The non-residential program is designed to “keep their skills going in the summer,” Ms. Torain explained.
Students in the program this summer are from Dunkirk, Silver Creek, Brocton, Chautauqua Lake and Ripley schools. They enroll as ninth-graders and remain with the program through their senior year. Thirty students are attending the residential program; 63 are in Summer Excellence.
The residential program, which places students in a residence hall and includes meals in Cranston Marché, is comprised of four learning modules. The first week (Module A) offers leadership development classes. It is followed by two weeks of math and English classes, plus an elective, in Module B. The curriculum in Module C, also two weeks, is science and history, with an elective. In Module D, students visit a large university outside of the area.
The last week provides a contrast in higher education environments: SUNY Fredonia and the surrounding rural area with a campus experience in a big city or metropolitan area, Ms. Torain explained, so students can “find out where they truly fit in.”
Local public school teachers are Upward Bound instructors. Two SUNY Fredonia students, who serve as program assistants, are with the students throughout their campus stay.
“It’s successful,” Torain said of the program that’s been held on campus since 1989, as the percentage of students going to college who complete the Upward Bound program meets or exceeds the objectives set forth in the approved grant by the federal Department of Education.
The SUNY Fredonia program is one of more than 700 Upward Bound programs across the country.
