2017 Fall Recap

Upward Bound offered a variety of activities this past fall semester including tutoring, financial aid/scholarship workshops, Academic Themed Saturdays (ATS), cultural events, college visits, and academic advising. We focused heavily on ATS and tutoring this past semester. Once a month we offered interactive workshops that focused on building skills such as study cycle/learning styles, time management, goal setting, study resources/ productivity, and test anxiety/strategies.

For the second year, Upward Bound students had the opportunity to visit the Noble County Saddle Club in Albion, Indiana for Saddle Bound. Saddle Bound is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn about horses, what they eat, and how they are taken care of, and students even had the opportunity to hop in the saddle and horseback ride! Most of the students had little-to-no experience with horses, so this was a great outing for all who participated.

 

You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say you did not know

William Wilberforce

Upward Bound attended a performance of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Repertory Theater presentation of “A Christmas Carol,” and the “Tunnel of Oppression” produced by IUPUI. The “Tunnel of Oppression” is an annual production created on the IUPUI campus and many other universities to shed light on oppression around the world and within our own neighborhoods and community.

 

Upward Bound students at ATS Chemistry class doing an activity with slime.

The topics focused on this year were mass incarceration, food deserts, Native American identity, Palestine, Desi-American identity, and addiction. Some of these topics are issues we hear about every day and some are problems faced by people who may live across the globe. The program was designed to increase awareness of different types of oppression and to create understanding about the effects of oppression. “You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say you did not know” (William Wilberforce).

Students also had the opportunity to attend a one-day leadership conference sponsored by Indiana TRIO Association. Students were able to learn about advocacy and what that means in each aspect of their lives. They wrote postcards to Indiana’s congressmen advocating for TRIO and telling them why TRIO works. This was an amazing learning opportunity for our students.

 

Students were able to learn about advocacy and what that means in each aspect of their lives.  

Upward Bound college visits this past semester included Saint Mary’s College, University of Notre Dame, and Purdue University. We choose universities to visit with the intention of exposing our students to all types of colleges/universities including large, small, public, private, and HBCUs. On each campus the students receive an admissions presentation which provides an abundance of information about the campus and university and what they offer as well as a tour, meal, and peek at dormitory living.

Major and Career Day was a very exciting and informational event for our students. This year we partnered with the School of Dentistry and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) where our students not only learned about the majors and degrees offered within the schools but also were involved in interactive hands-on activities. Major and Career Day gave seniors an opportunity to speak to professionals in different career fields to get an understanding of the educational requirements for particular occupations, what a typical workday may be like, and the importance of choosing a career you love.

We had a great fall semester, and we are looking forward to an equally beneficial and fun spring semester! 

 

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