Upward Bound students visit CSU Sacramento during the 2015 summer college tour, providing students the opportunity to visit many prospective colleges.
All year long Upward Bound students prepare for their future in college. Students study for high school classes and SAT/ACTs during their lunch breaks and during monthly Saturday Academies. This college prep also includes financial aid advising, career research and exploration, college life skills courses, and field trips to several colleges and cultural destinations throughout the region. In addition to the opportunity to meet other students in Plumas County and prepare for academic success, Upward Bound students are also allotted a stipend for their participation.
Summertime provides an even more intensive opportunity for Upward Bound students to immerse in academics, practice team building, and explore potential colleges. The summer program began this year with a three day trip to the beautiful Gold Lake Lodge where students from various high schools across Plumas County spent time getting to know each other before embarking on a summer of academics and field trips. During the camp, students learned how to set goals and work together through a day-long challenge course hosted by Project Discovery. The students also hiked around the beautiful lakes, went horse-back riding through the pine trees, prepared meals together, and held a congratulatory reception for this year’s graduating Upward Bound students.
Upon returning from the Leadership Camp at Gold Lake, Upward Bound students resumed academic preparation by attending a variety of courses on the Feather River College campus. Depending on grade level and course history, each student enrolled in several academic classes including College Life Skills, Physics, Biology, Spanish, Math, and Language Arts. On Fridays UB students were taken on themed field trips that centered around one of these specific subjects. This year’s students experienced Romeo and Juliet at the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, attended an educational (and fun) showing at the Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center in Reno, toured the incredibly impressive Engineering Department at University of Nevada Reno, and ordered lunch entirely in Spanish at our local Paradise Grill, followed by Spanish-language water balloon games and creek play at Gansner Park.
After an intensive four weeks of study, Upward Bound students who had the best attendance were given the opportunity to attend the most exciting event of the summer: the College Tour! This year the students were taken to four colleges including Sacramento State University, UC Santa Cruz (because who doesn’t want to be a banana slug?), Cabrillo Community College, and CSU Monterey Bay. Along the way, these students were also given the chance to explore aquatic life at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, stay in a historic building converted into a hostel in Downtown Sacramento, get a taste of dorm life at CSUMB, and try foods rarely available in Plumas County such as Ethiopian, Thai, and Brazilian cuisines. Students were taken on extensive campus tours by incredibly knowledgeable tour guides that informed students about college services and information, giving students a multifaceted view of college life.
The College Tour provides perhaps the only opportunity these students will have to visit a multitude of prospective colleges. It is an essential experience for Upward Bound students because it helps them make an informed decision about their future.
Upward Bound will resume weekly lunch meetings and tutoring at each school in the fall when school is back in session. For more information about Upward Bound or to download an application for your high school student, visit the Upward Bound website at www.frc.edu/upwardbound/ or call the UB office at 283-0202 ext. 276.