TCU TRIO Programs recognize achievements of economically challenged students

Pictured (l-r): Sanjeev K. Luthra, Yecenia C. Camarillo, LaTonya Cobb-Tippins, and Hector A. Munoz.

Fort Worth, TX

9/25/2007

Students of the TRIO Programs at TCU understand that their roads to success were paved with support and love, perseverance and hard work and discipline and self-control, and in a celebration and recognition of these alumni’s achievements on Sept. 17, 2007 high school students learned of the obstacles that these alumni overcame to achieve greatness.

TRIO Programs such as Upward Bound (UB), Student Support Services (SSS), and the Ronald E. McNair Program, help high school students of low-income families to attend and complete college through financial support, mentoring to overcome class, cultural, and societal barriers and tutoring in studies.

TCU, beginning in 1969, has aided numerous students within the program to achieve their goals and graduate into the world to live out the mission statement of the university. Alumni recognized at the luncheon - Yecenia C. Camarillo, Sanjeev K. Luthra, Hector A. Munoz and LaTonya Cobb-Tippins - are all outstanding examples of these programs and TCU as well.

Camarillo, a daughter of immigrant parents, dreamed of attending TCU after visiting the campus on a sixth-grade field trip. She applied, and was admitted, six years later, but could not afford the tuition costs even after a substantial financial aid package.

Camarillo, a first generation college student, was offered help by the SSS program at TCU. Through the program, Camarillo received not only financial support, but cultural and other benefits as well. As a junior, she transferred into the Ronald E. McNair Program, which helped her to pursue a post-baccalaureate degree through financial incentives. Camarillo graduated with a BS in Economics in 2003 and now works as an analyst for the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

“TCU’s Student Support Services and the Ronald E. McNair Programs not only made my undergraduate and graduate degrees possible, but they also made my dream of achieving success a realization,” Camarillo said.

Another TRIO Programs scholar, Sanjeev Luthra, also was successful through the SSS and Ronald E. McNair programs at TCU. Luthra’s parents were immigrants from India and had moved to the United States to provide a greater opportunity for their children.

According to Luthra, his father had always explained that to obtain respect, one must have an education, which he chose to ignore, until his father’s sudden death in Luthra’s sophomore year of high school. From that point he decided to focus on going to college and getting the education his father wanted in order for him to earn respect through out life.

In two years, Luthra turned his focus around, remembering the sacrifices his parents had made for him. Luthra realized the TRIO Programs were perfect for him, after he saw students studying and receiving mentoring and tutoring in the office.

Luthra graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, a double major in Marketing/Electronic Business and a minor in International Business. Luthra is the owner of Top Gun Real Estate, a real estate consulting company.

Hector Munoz lost his father unexpectedly, like Luthra. Before his father’s death, Munoz participated in many sporting activities that kept him away from dangers within his neighborhood. The sports were a family event for Munoz, because his mother would cheer and his father would coach. Through his family and adoration of sports, Munoz learned values of teamwork, self-discipline, perseverance and education. After his father’s death, Munoz lost his direction and fell into a different crowd, but with the constant love and support from family he was able to refocus and recover eventually leading to an opportunity to attend TCU.

After Munoz was introduced to the TRIO Programs, he recaptured himself through the security, authenticity and support of the programs. Munoz graduated in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in finance, and is happily married with two daughters. He is a senior analyst with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

“It is TRIO programs like SSS that help students transition from incompetence to knowledge,” Munoz said about the effectiveness of the programs.

La Tonya Cobb-Tippins found it hard to visualize a higher education, because as a divorced parent, her mother worked two jobs to support the family. Her father could not work due to a heart transplant. Cobb-Tippins kept good grades and was on good behavior, not knowing that these factors could allow her to attend university, until she attended a presentation by Upward Bound from TCU.

These programs allowed first-generation college students like Cobb-Tippins to have free tutoring, academic counseling and attend workshops for financial aid and scholarships. She was filled with an unexplainable joy after realizing she had the opportunity to go to a university. Cobb-Tippins received her Bachelor of Sciences in Nursing in 1999, and the programs available through TCU have shaped her to become a productive citizen. She is the clinical coordinator at Arlington Memorial Hospital.

For the past 18 years at TCU, 100 percent of TCU Upward Bound students have graduated from their respective high schools, 95 percent have gone on to attend the college or university of their choice and 83 percent have completed their undergraduate degree. There are currently 24 Upward Bound students enrolled at TCU and three TCU Upward Bound alumni on TCU’s staff serving the program in various capacities.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the goal of Upward Bound is to “increase the rates in which participants enroll in and graduate from institutions of postsecondary education.” Twenty-one TCU Upward Bound students graduated during the 2005-06 academic school year.

For more information on TCU’s Upward Bound, visit www.trio.tcu.edu.