College Bound a success

Fort Worth, TX

4/30/2008

By Hannah Mathews, Office of Communications Intern

More than 450 students from Tannahill Intermediate School got a first-hand glimpse of collegiate life at TCU when the College of Education’s Center for Urban Education hosted College Bound for sixth graders on Friday, April 25.

“This experience is important for their students since many of the children participating in the College Bound experience will be first generation college students,” said Cecilia Silva, education professor in TCU’s College of Education and Center for Urban Education. “College Bound is an important community outreach program from the Center for Urban Education.

Forty volunteers, including TCU students, faculty and staff, led the sixth graders around campus, in an effort to teach them about academics, athletics and student life. From coursework to extracurricular activities – the sixth graders learned about what they could anticipate for the future. The Tannahill students toured numerous academic departments and areas of interest including a nursing lab, the study abroad office, the TCU ROTC program, the TCU News Now studio and the Oscar E. Monnig Meteorite Gallery.

They also created math and science fun packs for the sixth graders to take home in the summer as well as “College Bound” curriculum. The “College Bound” curriculum emphasizes the benefits of college, working hard but having fun and how college is accessible for many individuals.

“The College Bound Day was an invaluable experience for the sixth graders I had been working with at Tannahill,” said Allison Willeke, TCU Middle Education student teacher at Tannahill. “They were fascinated by the Radio Station and really began to realize that college is a place where you can explore your interests. By connecting students directly to their interests, like music, they were able to realize that college can be a place for anyone. They also were able to see the value of hard work in high school from the Admissions office. When we left, several students had decided to be future Horned Frogs!”

The College Bound project is an ongoing collaboration with White Settlement ISD. The early childhood students from the College of Education meet at Tannahill for the first 2 weeks of the semester for seminars prior to beginning their student teaching. One of the major activities the university students do is to visit each sixth grade classroom to discuss college life, and to answer any questions or clarify misconceptions the sixth graders may have about college. The tour of TCU is a follow-up for the sixth grade students to see first-hand how college life is.

For more information on the Center for Urban Education, visit www.coe.tcu.edu.