SLU Celebrates Anniversary of TRIO Programs

On Friday-Saturday, Feb. 25-26, the University will join a national celebration to honor the students that succeeded in college with the support of TRIO programs, which today include Talent Search, Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math/Science, Veterans Upward Bound, Student Support Services, the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Program and the Educational Opportunity Centers.

Part of the SLU celebration will be a rededication of a memorial for Ronald E. McNair, the second African American to fly in space. Nationally recognized for his work in the field of laser physics, McNair was selected by NASA for the space shuttle program in 1978 and was a mission specialist aboard the 1984 flight of the space shuttle Challenger. After his death in the Challenger accident in 1986, Congress funded the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program in his honor.

The rededication begins at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25, between Fitzgerald Hall and McDonnell-Douglas Hall. McNair’s brother, Carl McNair, will be on hand for the event. He also will make other appearances during SLU’s two-day celebration, including a luncheon program preceding Friday’s rededication. Julius Hunter, vice president for community relations, will serve as master of ceremonies. For more information, call the Student Educational Services Center at 977-2930.

TRIO programs are designed to identify promising students, prepare them to do college level work, strengthen math and science provide tutoring and support services to students once they reach campus and provide information on academic and financial aid opportunities.

Nationally, more than 2,700 projects are hosted at more than 1,200 postsecondary institutions and more than 100 community agencies. TRIO programs currently serve nearly 873,000 low-income Americans. Many programs serve students in grades six through 12. Also enrolled in TRIO programs are 16,000 students with disabilities and more than 25,000 U.S. veterans.

“In many communities throughout America, the TRIO Programs are the only programs that help low-income Americans to enter college, graduate and move on to participate more fully in America's economic and social life,” said Dr. Arnold Mitchem, President of the Council for Opportunity in Education. Mitchem served as SLU’s commencement speaker in May 2001.

Students in the Upward Bound program are four times more likely to earn an undergraduate degree than those students from similar backgrounds who did not participate in TRIO. Nearly 20 percent of all black and Hispanic freshmen who entered college in 1981 received assistance through the TRIO Talent Search or EOC programs. Students in the TRIO Student Support Services program are more than twice as likely to remain in college than those students from similar backgrounds who did not participate in the program.

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