Program Provides High School Students With a Glimpse of College Life

College has come early for a group of high school students from the Monadnock region and Vermont.

For the past six weeks, the students have participated in Keene State Colleges Upward Bound summer program. More than 80 students are attending the program, which is designed to prepare students from economically disadvantaged families for the rigors of college. The program is federally funded, although some students from non-disadvantaged families pay a fee to attend. Students stay in residential halls on campus during the week and spend weekends at home.

According to Alan Glotzer, director of TRIO programs at KSC, during the program the students participate in a variety of academic, counseling, social, and recreational activities. These activities are designed to help build the academic skills, motivation, and self-confidence these students need to be successful in college, says Glotzer, who has worked in the KSC program for 27 years. By the end of the program, he explains, students will have a better idea of how their high school studies relate to college and how to go about applying to colleges.

A typical Upward Bound day begins with four hours of classes. Students take courses in journalism, math, environmental biology, chemistry, writing, literature, languages, drama as literature, as well as a PSAT preparation class. In the afternoon, students do two hours of community service with various organizations in Keene. The evening comprises recreation time and elective classes, which include talking politics, poetry workshops, jewelry making, and learning about improvisational comedy. Students also organize and participate on excursions, which happen in the third week of the course. This year, different groups canoed the Saco River, hiked in the White Mountains, and visited Niagara Falls, New York City, the Maine coast, and Boston.

Nearly 200 students applied for the course, says Glotzer. Its a competitive program, he says, with selection based on teachers testimonials, academic transcripts, and personal interviews. The selected students are from Keene, Thayer, Monadnock, and Fall Mountain high schools, and six high schools in Vermont.

For more information, contact Alan Glotzer, director of TRIO programs, at 603-358-2322.