For most TCU students summer break is a time to rest and relax. But even as many TCU students leave campus to pursue their summer plans, many high school students are just arriving for an “academic boot camp” hosted by TCU’s Upward Bound program. Although the program works with students year round, the summer session hosts 20 "bridge" students who have just graduated from high school, helping prepare them for college-level work. In addition to the 20 bridge students, there were also 55 Upward Bound students who participated in the summer program.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the program, which was created specifically for potential first-generation college students, features after-school, weekend and summer instruction in English, mathematics, foreign language and science on college campuses. Participants must in be ninth, tenth or eleventh grade and meet federal eligibility requirements to join the program.

TCU senior Tiffany Vann experienced the benefits of Upward Bound first-hand. “It prepared me for my college career,” said Vann, who will graduate from TCU in Dec. 2006, one year ahead of schedule. “My freshman year was not a shock because I was involved in workshops that taught me about successful transitioning into college.”

A kinesiology major with an emphasis in health and fitness promotions, Vann plans to work for the Cook Children’s Medical Center’s obesity program for children, and she also plans to pursue personal training as well. Vann mentioned her parents as her primary support for applying to and completing Upward Bound at TCU. “My parents are very proud of me,” said Vann. “They pushed me from the very beginning.”

TCU established Upward Bound on its campus in 1970, and the program serves 110 students from six Fort Worth Independent School District high schools annually. Each year approximately 20 of those students graduate and go on to enroll in various colleges and universities across the nation.

For the past 17 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 http://www.trio.tcu.edu/.

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