|
At 50,
Upward
Bound
still
opens
pathway
to
college
By DAVID
CRARY
AP
National
Writer
NEW
YORK, NY
-
Nervous
but
determined,
the
15-year-old
boy
walked
into a
conference
room in
Columbus,
Ohio,
for a
fateful
interview.
If it
went
well,
perhaps
he'd
have a
chance
to be
the
first
member
of his
impoverished
family
to
attend
college.
That was
34 years
ago, but
Wil
Haygood
- the
renowned
journalist
and
author
whose
writing
inspired
the film
"The
Butler"
- says
he
remembers
it "like
it was
yesterday."
"I knew
in my
heart
and soul
that
this was
a
monumental
moment
for
little
Wil
Haygood,"
he
recalled.
At stake
was a
place in
Upward
Bound -
founded
as an
experimental
program
in 1964
as part
of
Lyndon
B.
Johnson's
War on
Poverty
with a
goal of
helping
students
from
low-income
families
get a
college
education.
A few
weeks
after
his
interview,
Haygood
received
a letter
accepting
him in
the
Upward
Bound
college
prep
program
taking
place
that
summer
of 1970
on the
campus
of Ohio
Dominican
University.
"The
college
wasn't
but a
few
miles
from our
housing
project,
but as a
poor
kid, you
never
set foot
there,"
Haygood
said.
"It was
as if I
had been
lifted
up and
taken to
an
oasis."
Haygood
flourished
during
three
summers
in the
federally
funded
program
and
credits
the
professors
there -
and
their
tough-love
approach
- with
girding
him to
succeed
in
college.
"They
didn't
allow us
to make
excuses
because
we were
black or
poor,"
he said.
"They
said
when you
get to
college,
it will
be 10
times
harder."
Haygood
went on
to
thrive
at Miami
University
in
Oxford,
Ohio,
graduating
in 1976
and
returning
last
year to
give the
commencement
speech.
This
summer
marks
the 50th
anniversary
of
Upward
Bound.
It
served
2,061
participants
at 17
locations
in 1965;
last
year it
served
about
76,000
students
at more
than
1,000
locations
in 50
states.
In all,
more
than 2
million
people
have
participated
-
studying
English
literature
and
composition,
math and
science,
and
getting
practical
advice
on
college
admissions.
Upward
Bound
alumni
include
Oprah
Winfrey,
actresses
Viola
Davis
and
Angela
Bassett,
ABC News
correspondent
John
Quinones,
and
Democratic
political
strategist
Donna
Brazile.
"It's a
50-year-old
program
that
continues
to pay
back -
giving
us hope
and
teaching
so many
lessons
along
the
way,"
said
Maureen
Hoyler,
president
of the
Council
for
Opportunity
in
Education.
The
nonprofit
council,
formed
in 1981,
represents
more
than
1,000
colleges
and
agencies
that
have
supported
Upward
Bound
and its
affiliated
programs.
One of
the keys
to
Upward
Bound's
success
is that
its
local
programs
are
conducted
at
college
campuses,
whether
it's
after-school
and
weekend
sessions
during
the
school
year or
residential
summer
programs.
"The
fact
that we
get to
live on
campus
is
really
cool -
it gives
you an
idea of
what
college
is
like,"
said
Ruthy
Pierre,
a
16-year-old
New
Yorker
attending
a second
summer
of
Upward
Bound.
Her
program
is run
by John
Jay
College
of
Criminal
Justice
and
hosted
during
the
summer
by the
College
of Mount
Saint
Vincent
on a
verdant
campus
in the
Bronx
overlooking
the
Hudson
River.
Ruthy,
of
American
and
Haitian
descent,
lives
with her
single
mom and
will be
a junior
this
fall at
Information
Technology
High
School
in
Queens.
She
aspires
to be a
lawyer
but
hasn't
ruled
out a
mid-career
switch
to being
a chef.
Upward
Bound,
she
says,
"opens
up
opportunities
we
wouldn't
get
otherwise."
Among
her 56
classmates
in the
six-week
summer
program
was
Corinne
Lopez,
15, who
hopes
for a
career
combining
her
interests
in
graphic
arts and
forensic
science.
Her
parents
came to
the U.S.
from
South
America
with
college
educations,
but have
struggled
to find
commensurate
jobs in
New
York;
Corinne's
father
works as
a
doorman
in
Manhattan.
"It's
been
hard for
them,"
Corrine
said.
"I've
had
everything
given to
me. I
have to
return
the
favor -
graduate,
become
successful
and help
them in
the
future."
The
summer
program's
schedule
is
intensive,
with
classes
and
study
halls
filling
most of
the day
on
Mondays
through
Thursdays
before
the
students
go home
for
three-day
weekends.
Karen
Texeira
- who's
directed
the John
Jay
program
for 25
years -
makes
sure to
include
a few
outings,
such as
this
summer's
foray to
Broadway
to see
"Motown:
The
Musical."
She
encourages
the
students
to have
fun amid
all the
hard
work,
though
some
rules
are
strictly
enforced.
There's
automatic
expulsion,
for
example,
for any
boy or
girl
found in
the dorm
rooms
reserved
for the
opposite
sex.
Texeira's
second-in-command
is
counselor
Omar
Abdullah,
32, who
grew up
in
Harlem,
was an
Upward
Bound
student
himself
in the
late
1990s,
and is
now
pursuing
a
master's
degree
in
public
administration.
"Before
I did
Upward
Bound, I
was
really
shy -
too shy
to place
an order
at
McDonald's,"
he said.
"At
Upward
Bound,
you had
to break
out of
that
shell."
"What I
took out
of it
especially
was the
friendships.
It's
like a
family
to us -
24 hours
a day,
four
days a
week,"
he said.
"The
last day
of the
program,
kids are
crying.
Some of
them
don't
want to
go
home."
Throughout
its
history,
Upward
Bound
has
compiled
a strong
record
of
success.
Of the
students
who take
part for
at least
three
years,
more
than 90
percent
go
directly
to
college
after
completing
high
school.
That
level of
performance
has
earned
Upward
Bound
strong
bipartisan
support
in
Congress,
yet the
program
nonetheless
faces
fiscal
challenges
because
of the
broader
turmoil
on
Capitol
Hill.
The
program's
budget,
which
started
out at
$6
million
50 years
ago,
reached
an
all-time
high of
almost
$327
million
in 2012,
but was
trimmed
by about
5
percent
last
year
along
with
many
other
federal
programs.
As a
result,
enrollment
dropped
to
75,996
students,
down
from an
all-time
high of
79,672
in 2012.
"How do
you do
more
with
less?"
asked
Maureen
Hoyler,
describing
a
budget-related
struggle
to
recruit
and
train
professional
staff
capable
of
overseeing
the
academic
program
and
providing
advice
on how
to get
into
college,
pay for
it, and
flourish
while
there.
She said
Upward
Board's
role in
college
guidance
has
become
increasingly
crucial
as many
of the
high
schools
supplying
students
to the
program
have cut
back on
their
own
guidance
efforts.
"We want
our
students
to make
an
informed
choice,"
Hoyler
said.
"We also
want
them to
stay in
college
once
they go.
They
need to
be able
to ask
for
help."
As
mandated
by
Congress,
two-thirds
of
Upward
Bound
students
must
come
from
families
with
incomes
at or
below
150
percent
of the
federal
poverty
level
and in
which
neither
parent
graduated
from
college.
Some are
homeless
or live
in group
homes or
foster
homes,
and
about 75
percent
are
minorities.
Lois
Vosika-Weir,
who grew
up in a
low-income
housing
project
in
Minneapolis,
is among
many
Upward
Bound
alumni
with an
abiding
gratitude
to the
program.
Her
mother
had four
children
by 24
and was
pregnant
with a
fifth
when her
husband
deserted
the
family.
"I was
not
doing
well at
all in
school,"
Vosika-Weir
said.
"My mom
found
out
about
Upward
Bound
and
basically
had to
drag me
in there
kicking
and
screaming."
When she
started
the
program
as a
ninth-grader
in 1974,
she was
reading
at
fourth-grade
level.
Yet she
was
warmly
welcomed.
"It
sounds
cliched,
but the
adults
met me
where I
was at,"
said
Vosika-Weir,
whose
voice
cracked
with
emotion
in a
telephone
interview
as she
recalled
those
days.
"The
director
said to
me,
`You're
smart.'
At the
time I
didn't
feel
smart.
... The
people
there
gave me
the
confidence
I needed
to keep
putting
one foot
in front
of the
other."
The
support
never
wavered,
even
when she
became
pregnant
as a
16-year-old.
She was
accepted
at the
University
of
Minnesota,
got her
bachelor's
degree,
went on
to get a
master's
degree
in
psychology
and now,
at 55,
is an
assistant
principal
at the
American
Indian
Magnet
School
in St.
Paul.
Her
three
children
all have
college
degrees,
including
a son
pursuing
a
doctorate
in
physics.
"Upward
Bound
was the
catalyst,"
she
said.
Likewise,
Wil
Haygood
remains
volubly
grateful
for
Upward
Bound,
even to
the
point of
choosing
to write
a
biography
of
African-American
politician/pastor
Adam
Clayton
Powell
Jr. in
part
because
of the
congressman's
role in
establishing
the
program.
"I felt
I owed
this man
a debt,"
Haygood
said.
"If it
wasn't
for that
program,
I never
would
have
gone to
college." |