Grant supports STEM activities for first-generation, low-income students
By David Bishop
The TRIO Educational Talent Search program at Southern Utah University has been awarded $40,000 in supplemental grant funds from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant will support STEM activities for first-generation and low-income students through the TRIO program.
“The best thing about working with TRIO ETS students is seeing them enter college and complete a degree,” said Tami Shugart, director of the TRIO Educational Talent Search at SUU. “We are tracking the degree attainment of all of our high school seniors that enter into post-secondary institutions and have found that 63 percent of our students have received a postsecondary credential within six years.”
All TRIO programs are designed to support and serve first-generation and low-income students along the pipeline from middle school through graduate school. The TRIO Educational Talent Search program at SUU helps qualified students with free assistance in such activities as college campus visits, career development, study skills, ACT preparation, and the financial aid and college admission processes.
SUU’s TRIO Educational Talent Search program serves 636 students in grades 6–12 attending schools located in Cedar City, Parowan, Beaver, Milford, Minersville, Kanab, Orderville, and Fredonia. The students show a desire to seek post-high-school education, have a limited family income, and have parents who did not graduate with four-year college degrees.
Outside opportunities for STEM activities are limited to the school year at the schools in the target area. The STEM grant will be used for STEM activities at the middle schools and provide ETS participants with STEM college and career visits. In addition, students will be able to attend residential STEM camps in the summer to be more fully immersed in STEM content, as well as develop non-cognitive skills such as teamwork, resilience, and leadership.
SUU’s TRIO Educational Talent Search program has been successfully grant-funded since 1994 and is 100 percent federally funded at $340,890 annually. SUU is proud to host three TRIO programs: Upward Bound, Talent Search, and Student Support Services. These three programs have been exemplary over the decades in bringing educationally or economically disadvantaged students into higher education and lifelong learning.
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