Two programs that aim to help veterans and high school students prepare for college are now recruiting participants.
Upward Bound and Veterans Upward Bound, two of the eight federal student outreach programs that make up TRIO, have helped students around the country since the 1960s. At ASU, the programs serve about 300 high schoolers and veterans, many of whom go on to ASU, each year.
Veronica Hernandez, who has served as director of both programs for close to three months, said Upward Bound and Veterans Upward Bound, along with other TRIO programs, are instrumental in helping first-generation college students from low-income backgrounds succeed in obtaining university degrees.
Hernandez, who has worked with Upward Bound for the past 15 years, participated in the program when she was a high school student.
"I know the struggles of knowing you want to do it but not knowing how to do it," she said.
Now, she and a team of instructors help other high school students who want to go to college but don't know how to get there.
ASU's Upward Bound is required to serve 142 students from Maricopa County each year. While the students can come from any school in the county, the program focuses on four Phoenix Union School District high schools: César Chávez, Betty H. Fairfax, Carl Hayden Community and Maryvale.
Students who enter the program must have completed eighth grade but not yet started their senior year of high school. The program, which is completely free, heavily recruits students prior to their freshman year, and recruiting for the high school class of 2017 is underway.
Most students in Upward Bound do it through their four years of high school. The students end up going to school six days a week —– a regular week at their home high school and Saturday classes with Upward Bound.
The program covers math, English, computer science and humanities courses, among others, and teaches lessons on financial aid, scholarships and college applications. While about half of the students in Upward Bound end up attending ASU straight from high school, they can also go on to any university or community college to which they're accepted.
Along with Saturday classes, students in the program spend six or more weeks at a residential summer instruction program. It's a lengthy time commitment with little immediate gratification, Hernandez said, but it pays off.
"The students are definitely a different person when they finish their senior year than when they start," she said. "We talk about the academics, but we're really talking about the self-confidence they build."
Veterans Upward Bound, meanwhile, typically requires a smaller time commitment. Participating veterans, like their high school counterparts, come from low-income backgrounds and are the first in their families to attend college.
They take refresher courses in basic subjects to get caught up, and the amount of time spent in the program mostly depends on what level of schooling the returning veteran was at when he or she began.
"If their school level is at the elementary school level, they may spend a semester or a year here," Hernandez said. "Typically, it's two to three months."
Unlike the high schoolers in Upward Bound, only a small percentage of participants in the veteran program go directly to ASU after completing the program, though many will go to community college and then transfer to the University.
Marcus Wright, recruitment and retention specialist with Veterans Upward Bound, said the minimum of 140 participants each year benefit from having a program dedicated to preparing them for college or a trade school.
"Some of the advantages that I see of going through (Veterans Upward Bound) is the camaraderie," he said. "They're all veteran classes. You can go to school and get some TLC here."
Several members of the small staff at Veterans Upward Bound served in a branch of the armed forces themselves, while others have family who have.
"We've got a good mix of veterans and civilians," Wright said. "Overall, we're tuned into their needs. We are probably more patient; we try not to put any more pressure on them."
Like Upward Bound, Veterans Upward Bound is recruiting participants. Applications and guidelines for both free programs can be found at eoss.asu.edu/trio.
Reach the managing editor at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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