High schoolers get early taste of college

By Kevin Deutsch

Fifteen local high school students are about to trade in a life of home-cooked meals, tricky locker combinations and hanging out under the bleachers for one of dorm rooms, course-juggling, and dining- hall dinners.

The rising high-school seniors, all members of Kingsbridge Heights Community Center’s College Directions program, are headed to college early to take part in a summer literacy institute at Manhattan College, starting June 9.

“We want to show these students what college life is all about,” said Daniel Collins, an associate professor in the college’s English department, who is helping to organize the program. “The hope is that they come away with a sense of the academic as well as the social feel of college.”

The four-day program will provide students with “intensive” pre-college academic experiences both on campus and at the community center, the college says. It will feature three collegelevel discussions, led by Manhattan’s faculty, designed to introduce the teens to different academic disciplines.

Then students will get busy with their biggest effort of the weekend: finishing their college application essay.

Each teen will work in a group led by a writing coach and a student mentor to produce a finished draft by the end of the weekend. They’ll learn about what admissions officers are looking for, work to hone their prose and read excerpts from their essays during a Sunday banquet for them and their families.

While on campus, the kids will sleep in dorm rooms, eat in the dining hall, attend a movie and barbecue on the quadrangle and be exposed to a college-style class schedule. They’ll also learn about financial aid options.

The majority of participants are from low-income households and many are first-generation college students.

“They’re excited,” said Neill Bogan, development director at the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center. “It’s a unique opportunity for them.”

The community center’s College Directions program, which selected the kids for the college weekend, works to increase the number of Bronx kids who are well-informed about the benefits of a college education and to support them as they move through the application process and into college.

The literacy program is the start of a yearlong process in which the kids will be helped at through every stage.

The Summer Literacy Institute is made possible by a grant from The Teagle Foundation of $240,000, given over three years, and shared by both the community center and the college.

“It’s a really good neighborhood fit,” Mr. Bogan said.

This is part of the July 9, 2009 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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