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Helping NYC Students Step Toward College Through FES Partnerships

(PRWeb) February 7, 2007 -- A partnership between Vassar College and Collegiate Institute of Math and Science in the Bronx is helping students, most of whom will be the first in their families to go to college, learn how to prepare for, access, and succeed in college. The partnership is one of more than 100 facilitated by Foundation for Excellent Schools (FES).

"Having the Dean of Admissions go down and interview you--nobody gets that," says Lauren Weinstein, Co-Director, Urban Education Initiative, Vassar College. Nobody, that is, except for two seniors at the Collegiate Institute for Math and Science (CIMS) in the Bronx. "Vassar has had a relationship with CIMS through the Education Department," David Borus, Dean of Admissions explained. "Now that the kids are of college-going age, we felt it was important for admissions to get involved, not just in promoting Vassar, but in helping with the process."

Vassar and CIMS were brought together by the Foundation for Excellent Schools (FES), an organization dedicated to "becoming the pre-eminent organization in this country at creating and strengthening school-college partnerships that help underserved students access and succeed in college," according to FES president Rick Dalton. Since its founding in 1991, FES has created partnerships between 175 colleges and universities and 110 schools and school districts across the country, Dalton explains.

In New York City, a dozen FES schools have both a local and a long-distance college partner. Annually, some 2,000 FES students from New York City are able to spend time on college campuses. For example, 18 FES students spend two weeks each summer at Williams College studying Shakespeare and tasting life on the rural campus. For students at CIMS, their relationship with Vassar begins with a campus visit during their freshman year. "It's important to change the students' trajectory earlier rather than later," says Chris Roellke, Chair of Education at Vassar.

Along with early experience of college campuses, underserved students need exposure to what the college application process and college life are like. For the FES partnership between the University of Vermont and Christopher Columbus High School, this means university admissions officers visit students during their freshman and sophomore year to help them gain familiarity with the application process.

For CIMS students, the early connection is made through on-line mentoring. CIMS freshmen are paired with students who are part of Vassar's CAPS (College Awareness Partnership Scholars) program through a discussion website. CIMS students can ask questions about dorm life, dining halls, and course loads of Vassar students, almost all of whom, Roellke says, are low-income, first-generation college students.

This year, in addition to the student-to-student on-line mentoring, Vassar added an on-line parent forum. "We're getting as many questions from parents as from students," Roellke says. According to Weinstein, "It's going really, really well. The Vassar students love being able to answer questions about college."

Both mentoring and creating partnerships with families are core FES practices, as is early exposure to college. "FES has been a great support network for us," says Roellke. "We're proud of what we have accomplished."

During their visit to CIMS, in addition to interviewing the six applicants, Borus and two senior admissions officers also held an information session for two dozen juniors. The information session was important, reports Nancy Trapido, CIMS guidance counselor. "The kids had a visual memory of Vassar, from a visit their freshman year," Trapido explains, "but this was their first experience with an information session. These are kids on top of things, but many of them are flying by themselves."
   
That was certainly the case for Isma Aslam, whose parents' education ended after high school. "My parents put a strong emphasis on education," Aslam says. Her sisters did take time from their own studies at CUNY to help her with the financial aid process, but she filled out the college applications on her own. "My bed was covered with them," she says, "and everyone knew not to touch them, or come near me when I was working on them."

The representatives from Vassar's admissions office closed their visit to the Bronx with a tour of the school's facility. Borus was impressed. "The energy was incredible," he reports, "It was bustling, the kids were engaged, the staff was involved." The visit, Borus says, "gave us a much better appreciation for what CIMS is trying to do and who these kids actually are."

The visit went so well that Trapido said, "We plan to do it again." Borus was clearly as pleased as Trapido. "It was an incredibly positive visit for us. This is a mutually beneficial relationship we would like to continue and nurture."

That's a feeling Dalton shares. "Last year 97 percent of FES students went on to college," he says. "We're looking for 100 percent. That's the ideal and we'll continue to strive for that. Strengthening our school-college partnerships helps our children get to and through college. And that's our benchmark for FES success."

For more information contact FES President Rick Dalton at (802) 462-3170 or visit www.fesnet.org.

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