SPECIAL TO THE ADVOCATE

Students, faculty and staff at LBW Community College’s Greenville, Andalusia, and MacArthur campuses recently celebrated National TRIO Day in recognition of the college’s Upward Bound and Student Support Services programs, two of the seven federally funded TRIO programs that help students from low-income families striving to be the first in their families to attend and graduate from college.

LBWCC’s Upward Bound program helps high school students in grades 9-12 prepare for higher education, said Bridges Anderson, program director.

“Participants receive instruction in literature, composition, mathematics, and science on LBWCC’s campus during after school hours, Saturday classes, and summer enrichment programs,” he said. “Upward Bound also provides intensive mentoring and support for participants as they prepare for college entrance exams and tackle admissions applications.”

Currently, more than 950 Upward Bound projects are in operation nationally, serving 65,000 students.

Once they become college students, LBWCC’s Student Support Services is available to help low-income and first-generation students, including those with a disability, be successful in and graduate from college, said Patricia Powell, program director.

“These students receive tutoring, counseling, and remedial instruction in order to achieve their goals of college completion,” she said. “It’s about persistence, retention, completion, and transferring if that is their goal. Student Support Services provides the resources they need to be successful.”

According to Dr. Arnold Mitchem, president of the Council for Opportunity in Education, an education association which represents TRIO students, college graduates, and professionals nationwide, “These programs work because they are run at the local level, student-centered, performance-based, and non-bureaucratic.”

Today more than 1,200 colleges, universities, and community agencies host more than 2,900 TRIO projects that serve approximately 850,000 young people and adults. In addition to Upward Bound and Student Support Services, other federally-funded TRIO programs include Talent Search, Upward Bound Math/Science, Veterans Upward Bound, Education Opportunity Centers, and the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program.

TRIO services include assistance in choosing a college; tutoring; personal and financial counseling; career counseling; assistance in applying for college; workplace and college visits; special instruction in reading, writing, study skills, and mathematics; assistance in applying for financial aid; and academic support.