The first of seven Upward Bound Saturday seminars attracted a crowd of 45 students and 55 parents. NCMC’s Upward Bound program will serve high school students in six communities — Trenton, Galt, Chillicothe, Hamilton, Jamesport and Gallatin.
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Excitement was high when area high school students chosen for the Upward Bound program met each other for the first time Feb. 5 at North Central Missouri College in Trenton. The first of seven Upward Bound Saturday seminars attracted a crowd of 45 students and 55 parents. “We had a great turnout for our first Saturday seminar,” said Kendra Wolgast, Upward
Bound director.
NCMC’s Upward Bound program will serve high school students in six communities–Trenton, Galt, Chillicothe, Hamilton, Jamesport and Gallatin.
The program is funded through a $200,000/year, four-year grant from the U.S. Dept. of Education. The Upward Bound program will provide no-cost academic and social activities for 50 qualifying high school students in the area, thus increasing their chances for college success.
At the Saturday session, high school students gave presentations about the history of Upward Bound and TRIO, both federally funded programs, and guests toured the NCMC campus, including the residence halls. Also, students participated in a career-related activity and filled out questionnaires regarding the Upward Bound summer component.
During the parent session, Wolgast distributed a guide to Upward Bound and answered questions concerning the academic year and summer components.
Students selected to participate from Chillicothe include freshmen
Becky Belt, Cherrie Curtis, Tia Grubb, Kelley Jamieson, Lauren Quick and
Terica Stretch; sophomores Shannon Curl, Breanna Figg, Lea Martin, Russell
Patelski and Amanda Wimmer; and juniors Melissa Bush, Natosha McGrath and
Danny Perry.
From Gallatin are freshmen Jacklyn Albrecht, Jacob Rutherford and Joshua Vance; and juniors Christina Cox, Melissa Froelich and Crystal Talbott.
Participants from Grundy R-V in Galt include freshman Natosha Snidow; sophomores Nick Allnutt, Cathryn Foust and Johnathan Minor; and juniors Jennifer Pendergast and Dusty Wheeler.
Students participating from Penney R-II in Hamilton include freshmen Bryant Curtis, Dana Heldenbrand and Casey Wallace; sophomores Bryan Burdg, Joy Motsinger and Holly Winslow; and juniors Nickeya Payne and Mindy Wallace.
From Trenton R-IX are freshmen Charity Brown and Dustin Haskins; sophomores Krista Bouzek, Cassie Brown, Loura Gearin, Jilee Keith, Rachel Pilcher, Angie Ringwalt and Jillia Stotts.
Students from Tri-County R-VII in Jamesport include freshmen Patricia McLaughlin and Curtis Smith; sophomores Kodie Carman, Samantha Hodges and Matthew Prescott; and junior Chrystal Terry.
In addition to on-campus programs, Upward Bound employs two learning specialists to work with student participants in six area high schools. Elaine Bush of Chillicothe works with Grundy R-V, Tri-County R-VII, and Trenton R-IX. Rhonda Oesch of Ludlow works with students from Chillicothe R-II, Penney R-II (Hamilton), and Gallatin R-V.
A study done by Syracuse University showed that 22% of the students who drop out of higher education do so for academic reasons. “With the Upward Bound program, students learn not only what it takes to get into college, but what it takes to stay in school and finish,” said Wolgast.
Since Missouri’s drop-out rate is 33% higher than the national average and Grundy County’s is even higher than Missouri’s average, programs designed to encourage student success are valuable.
Future Saturday seminars will be on Feb. 19, March 4 and 18, April 1 and 15, and May 13. Free bus transportation for participants is provided from Hamilton, Gallatin, Jamesport, Galt and Chillicothe.
During the six-week summer component (June 11 to July 21), students live on campus during the week and go home on weekends. The same learning specialists who are in the high schools will teach many of the summer classes. They are certified Missouri secondary teachers, employed on an 11-month contract.