ESU’s Upward Bound Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Posted by: admin on October 20, 2014, No Comments

One in three students who attend college is first generation, meaning neither of their parents has completed a bachelor’s degree. For these students, college is an entirely uncharted territory. A program at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania has been working to aid first generation college students for the last 40 years.

Project Upward Bound at ESU is celebrating its 40th Anniversary on Friday, October 24 from 5 – 7 p.m. at the Innovation Center. The program, which works with low-income, first generation college bound high school students, is the longest continually funded grant program at East Stroudsburg University.

“We are so much more than an academic program,” Janine Hyde-Broderick, assistant director of Upward Bound, said. “We are a social skills development program, a leadership program, an advocacy program, and in a lot of cases, an extended family.”

During the school year, Upward Bound students meet one Saturday a month to participate in academic classes and tutoring sessions which assist them with their high school coursework, as well as their career and college exploration and preparation. Students are visited at their home school by Upward Bound staff on a bi-weekly basis. They participate in online classes, workshops, speakers series, field trips, and college visits. For many students it’s their first glimpse of college life.

“Upward Bound helped me get into college by giving me the confidence to do anything I put my mind to,” Kathy Dutan, a 2009 ESU alumna from Bethlehem, Pa. who majored in biology and geology, said. “I may have gotten into college, but without Upward Bound, I wouldn’t have stayed.”

Project Upward Bound originated in 1964 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty and is celebrating its 50th anniversary nationally.

“Government-funded programs really can help,” Matthew Christoff, a freshman at East Stroudsburg High School North participating in Upward Bound, said. “There are so many out there and so many different opportunities to be found, but no program, absolutely no program can match Upward Bound because it is a family.”

This event is open to the public at no cost.

For additional information please contact: Program Director Dr. Uriel Trujillo at 570-422-35090, Assistant Director Janine Hyde-Broderick at 570-422-3477 or Maryanne Kash, program secretary at 570-422-3358.