Students say experiences with Upward Bound will help them in the future

In Read Center’s Hoosier Café on Friday night, 69 students spent their evening listening to a debate.

The students are part of Upward Bound, a federal program that provides exposure to higher education for low-income students who are the first generation in their family to consider college.

“It’s very useful,” said Charles Greenfield, who is about to enter his sophomore year of high school in Gary, Ind. “(About) 90 percent of Upward Bound students go to college. If 90 percent is good, and college is good, the only conclusion is that the program is good.”

The students read statements on the topics of that evening – old versus new-school hip-hop, whether rap videos demean women and the merits of John McCain versus Barack Obama. Adriana Guevara, a student from East Chicago, Ind., stood up to read her opening statement.

“It is the advancement from poverty to the idea that we can actually become something,” she said of new-school hip-hop.

The audience voiced their agreement. All from low-income areas in Indiana, such as Gary, East Chicago and Hammond, they were in the first week of the six-week program.

“We spent an hour preparing each day this week, after curfew,” said Erik Frazier, who is about to enter his sophomore year at Hammond High School. “I’m pretty confident.”

Preparing for the debates was an extra-curricular activity, one of many in which students may participate. The aim of the program is to give the students exposure to what college life is like, and prepare them for making the transition from high school
to college.

“This is good practice,” Frazier said of the debate. “I want to become a law-enforcement professional someday, and this will prepare me for court.”

During the day, the students take classes. Placed into various levels through placement tests, the students take normal courses, such as math and English. They also have the chance to choose electives, such as Russian or Japanese. They live in dormitories, are supervised by Upward Bound residential advisors, and are given grades for their coursework. However, the program doesn’t end there.

“It’s something beyond a summer school,” said Upward Bound Director Marshal Chaifetz. “We’re not simply here to recreate school, we offer extra enrichment such as seminars on how to get financial aid.”

For many of the students, the debates, as well as the rest of the program, were a type of exposure they don’t get often. Some students are signed up by their parents, others elect to go by themselves. But for many students, like Greenfield, the program has changed their outlook.

“Most of the people from my school ... might wind up selling drugs or living in mom’s basement making minimum wage,” Greenfield said. “And before this program I had no idea what I wanted to do. Now, I’m sure that I’m going to college.”