Upward Bound Grant to Encourage Basin Teens to go to College

By Communications staff, Washington State University

RICHLAND, Wash. — The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $1 million Upward Bound grant to help motivate high school students to finish high school and obtain a college degree.

The grant is managed through the Washington State University Tri-Cities early outreach programs under Director Genoveva Morales-Ledesma. Recruiting for the Upward Bound students starts this month. The grant is $250,000 per year, starting this fall and ending in 2011.
 
The Upward Bound Program will serve students who are potential first-generation university students (neither of their parents earned a bachelor’s degree) or are students who need financial assistance to obtain post-secondary education.
 
The first group of teens will be made up of 50 ninth- and 11th- graders in Moses Lake, Warden, and Soap Lake schools, Students must meet income guidelines to participate and have a 2.5 or lower grade point average. Each will spend up to four years in the program, where they will meet monthly to learn study skills, the long-term value of education, and other topics that will prepare them for college. In addition, the group will go on field trips and to a six-week college experience each summer at WSU in Pullman.
 
“These are first-generation students. Their parents won’t have had a college experience to advise the students of the responsibilities of being a college student and the experience of leaving home,” Morales-Ledesma said. “The summer sessions in the dorm give the students the experience of leaving family so when they go to college they are comfortable.”
 
Families interested in having their high school freshmen or juniors apply for the Upward Bound program should contact Morales-Ledesma at 509-372-7308 or e-mail gmorales@tricity.wsu.edu. The application deadline is Nov. 30.


Upward Bound is one of the five “TRIO” programs funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Through academic advising and developmental support, Upward Bound staff members strive to provide teens with a solid foundation on which to prepare them to finish high school and to make the transition to college life.

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