Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 1, 1993 TAG: 9307300015
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
But to the 93 high school students in Virginia Tech's Upward Bound program this year, summer camp primarily means one thing: learning.
"Even though there is a good deal of fun worked into the program, our main focus is academics," said Bill Ross, an Upward Bound counselor who also participated in the program while growing up in Iowa. "We're just trying to give them a head start on life."
And Upward Bound officials say many of these students need a head start.
The students, who come from all over Southwest Virginia, do not have the academic background and financial advantages of many other high school students.
Tom Wilson, a counselor and associate director for the program, said one-third of them are from low-income families or a background where neither parent was a graduate of a four-year college or university. The other two-thirds are from both.
But there is one thing these students seem to have that many other high school students can't touch:
A desire to succeed.
"I think it's preparing me for college and life, too," said Jason Frazier, 16, of Narrows. "It's really helped me. I went from a low D average to a high B."
Frazier, who is in his fourth summer in the program, said the program gets better every year, which is why he keeps coming back.
"What I've learned the most in this program is that whatever you put into it, you'll get back," he said. "If you want to do something, there are people here who will help you get it done."
Wilson said the federally funded program accepts up to 115 students every summer. The students who are accepted must show a strong desire to do whatever it takes to go to college.
"Basically, I feel any kid has the potential for college," Wilson said. "All they need is the willingness to work hard and to seek help when they need it. These kids have that."
A typical day in the six-week program begins at 7:30 a.m. After a quick breakfast, the students spend the morning in college-preparatory classes taught by high school teachers and college professors. The classes are in such subjects as English and reading, advanced math and physics.
After lunch, they can take elective courses such as Spanish, black history and computer literacy.
Although they are given grades, Wilson said the credits are not transferable to their high schools. Classes are just to prepare them for the high school classes they will take in the fall.
When their classes are over, the students have one or two hours of free time before dinner and a two-hour structured study period. At the study period, teachers and professors are available to help.
The students also take part in athletic and social activities - hiking to the cascades, baseball games in Cincinnati - under the guidance of their two full-time counselors and nine summer tutor/counselors.
"We give them a strong social, cultural, recreational and academic environment," Ross said. "We try to incorporate all these things to develop the whole person."
However, he admitted, the true measure of the program's worth is not what the counselors provide, but what the students get out of it.
Apparently, they get a lot.
Rufus Hairston, a soft-spoken, articulate 15-year-old from Martinsville, said this is his first summer in the program, but it will not be his last.
"It's definitely enriched my educational skills," he said. "But it's more than just that. The Upward Bound program is like a family. It really is."
And if you ask the counselors, they will tell you the same thing. Ross, who smiles like a proud parent as he talks about the students' accomplishments, said the relationship between himself and his students is the most rewarding part of his job.
"There's a lot of satisfaction in getting them to realize that if they can imagine it and dream it, then it's within their capabilities of accomplishing it," he said. "That's where the payoff comes."
by CNB