Upward Bound program prepares students for success in college

By Summer Crosby

Mineral Independent

Typically, students have Saturdays off. But this last week, students involved with the Upward Bound program, took Saturday to talk about college.

Upward Bound is federal educational program designed to help prepare high school students for entry and success in college.

Chris Toivonen, who is the head of the program at Superior, said that students involved in the program typically fall in to one or two categories. The first is that neither of their parents went to or finished college and they are potentially a first generation student who will. The second is that the students are from families with lower income.

“So what we try to do is take those kids and try to get them up to speed with what going to college will be like and show them how to take advantage of financial aid and just prepare them so they don’t suffer the same fate that maybe their parent or grandparent did if they dropped out,” Toivonen said.

The morning started out around 8 a.m. The students were served breakfast and then there was a meeting of the student government.

“We give the kids decision making powers,” Toivonen said. “We want to encourage them to be an adult so they make decisions that will directly impact the program.”

It just wasn’t students from Superior that met on Saturday. Students from the surrounding schools in Alberton, Plains and Thompson Falls also attended. Each month a different school holds the monthly meeting.

Last Saturday, students rotated between two different stations.

Toivonen talked with students about life in college. He touched on how students will have to balance their finances, class schedule and work schedule. He said that sometimes students will think that they will work a lot to make money, but once they have their class schedule they realize that they may not be able too. He had students choose a class schedule and work schedule.

“You have to learn what you can and can’t do,” Toivonen said, “what’s feasible.”

In another room, RuthAnne Shope had students busy researching financial aid and looking into different scholarships they would apply for. After students receive their award letters, they have to make decisions about what aid they will accept whether in the forms of loans, scholarships or grants.

Shope said that students can be afraid debt and so she said that hopefully they can educate them on what it means and what options are out there.

“If we can get them comfortable and let them know what having that debt will entail, that’s important. It’s very rare to go to school without taking out some form of loan,” Shope said.  

Shope said that finding scholarships is important. She said that if students are really willing to work at it, they’ll start looking during their freshman year of high school, though she admitted, a lot won’t be available until their junior or senior years.

Finally, in another room, students looked at what careers they were interested in and the projected future of their interested career path using an online resource, Montana Career Information System. MCIS is a comprehensive Internet-based system that delivers accurate and useful information to assist users in making career plans and learning how to achieve their educational and career goals.

MCIS provides unbiased information on more than 500 occupations, 120 programs of study, and current Montana wage, employment and outlook data. In addition, users can access pertinent data on all accredited Montana schools, and 3,500 other schools.

Tim Gray was also on hand to talk with students. Gray is currently enrolled in Tech, but spent five years with the Upward Bound program before attending college. He said that he found it to be pretty helpful.

“It really helped me to start to ask for help,” Gray said. “So many people you go to for help, they don’t know. Now, I really know where to go and how to look for scholarships.”

Gray said that one of the most beneficial things for him about the program was going to summer academy. During the time at academy, students are placed in an environment very similar to that of being in college. They eat meals from the college, attend classes and live in the dorms.

Toivonen said that he hopes one of the things kids get out of the program is that they don’t dismiss going to college completely.

“I hope this gives them a different insight,” he said. “Some kids’ families haven’t gone and so they just dismiss going. I hope this gives them a different perspective and lets them know that it’s worth trying and they can be successful.”