University of Washington Program is Designed Well for College Success

The Dream Project is a student-initiated
>high-school outreach program that operates as a
>University of Washington course and partners UW
>students with first-generation and low-income
>high school students to assist in the college
>admissions process. Over 100 UW undergraduates
>work with over 300 juniors and seniors in seven
>area high-schools. The undergraduates attend
>class once per week for an hour and a half, and
>then travel to the high-schools for at least one
>hour per week throughout the entire school
>year. In the high-schools, juniors and seniors
>work through the entire college application
>process with the UW undergraduates, including:
>thinking about the right "fit" for college,
>studying for the SAT and ACT, preparing
>articulate personal statements, turning in three
>or more college applications, understanding and
>filling out the FAFSA, applying for
>scholarships, matriculation, and the transition into college.
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>Once they have transitioned into college, many
>students will find a community-in-waiting,
>especially if they choose to come to the
>University of Washington. Similarly, other
>college campuses across the state (and the
>nation) are either starting their own Dream
>Project this year or are currently learning how
>to start one in future years. These
>communities--groups of undergrads that are
>already friends with the transitioning high
>school students--help to ensure high retention
>and graduation rates of the Dream Project
>scholars. In effect, the line is blurred
>between high school student, college student,
>and college graduate because many students who
>are involved in the Dream Project start out in
>one of the partner high schools and then join
>the Dream Project as an undergraduate
>themselves, continuing the cycle of giving back
>to their community. In this way, high school
>students can find their older peers at nearly
>any of the colleges to which they apply.
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>In the UW course, undergraduates learn about
>educational opportunity and social mobility
>while gaining the skills necessary to mentor the
>high school students throughout their
>preparation for and application to
>colleges. Each week, undergraduates work with
>and learn from college admissions counselors,
>financial aid and scholarship officers, SAT/ACT
>preparation experts, and numerous faculty and
>staff who speak about mentorship, social
>justice, non-profit work, and public schooling
>issues. Also, undergraduates are the leaders of
>the program--from collaborating with the high
>schools and school districts, to creating the
>class syllabus and course readings, to fund
>raising and development efforts. The
>undergraduates hold panels with the counseling
>staff from the high schools so that they can
>better understand how to collaborate and learn
>from one another's efforts. Similarly, the
>undergraduates work with an advisory committee
>of university faculty and staff to help the
>university understand the needs and changes of
>the program and the schools with which the Dream Project works.
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>The Dream Project is unique on many levels, but
>two DP achievements are particularly relevant to
>this blog. First, the Dream Project has helped
>to develop better communication between and
>among the public high-schools it serves and the
>higher education world in Washington State,
>including career/college counselors, high-school
>administrators, teachers, parents, college
>admissions counselors, university
>administrators, and university faculty and
>staff. Second, the Dream Project has induced an
>"in-reach" effect by changing the culture of the
>high schools we serve, such that the younger
>high-school students and their teachers,
>administrators, counselors and parents are
>preparing earlier and more accurately for
>college admissions. The Dream Project's
>students--undergraduates and high schoolers--are
>well aware of the "myths" of college and have
>aimed to dispel those myths wherever they occur,
>which happens to be at all levels along the P-16
>continuum. I believe that is why the Dream
>Project's dedication to collaboration and
>communication between all areas of education
>(K-12, higher education, funding partners,
>students, and parents) has been so successful.

For more information contact: Jenee Meyers ,myersja@u.washington.edu

Labels: college information, College Success Studies