EUGENE, Ore. -- (July 29, 2010) -- More than 25 University of Oregon faculty members will volunteer their time over the next two weeks to help a group of at least 100 local high school students from low income families chart their courses to college.
The UO's SAIL (Summer Academy to Inspire Learning) program is intended to equip bright but disadvantaged youths with the knowledge and tools necessary to make college a realistic option for them. It offers talks, demonstrations and interactive experiences with UO faculty; a sampling of campus and college life; and instruction on the admission and financial aid processes.
Bruce Blonigen and Bill Harbaugh - both economics professors at the UO - initiated SAIL in 2006 as a one-week, economics-focused day camp for 15 Springfield Middle School students who would be entering 9th grade that fall. There is now a second session (psychology and neuroscience) for soon-to-be 10th-graders, a third (physics and human physiology) for 11th-graders and a fourth (creativity and persuasion) for 12th-graders.
"When they come, they don't know anything about college," Harbaugh says. "Maybe they've been here for a sporting event, but that about it."
The goal of the program is to make college seem like a natural next step for seniors-to-be, by the time they finish their fourth annual camp.
This year's day camps will be held Aug. 2-6 for the junior and senior groups, and Aug. 9-13 for the freshman and sophomore groups. A highlight will be UO President Richard Lariviere's Aug. 10 lecture on Sanskrit to the 9th grade students.
Students are recruited for SAIL on the basic criteria that they are smart and belong in college, but are unlikely to continue their education after high school because of family income. Most come from families with no history of college education, and many are from English as a second language households.
Representatives of SAIL visit participating schools and make presentations during the academic year, then meet with principals and teachers who provide lists of potential recruits for the program's 9th grade class. Students who complete the initial session are invited back each summer throughout high school.
This year's entering group of 9th-graders - 40 of them - will be the largest yet. Organizers plan to double the program's size beginning next year by offering two sessions for each class of high school students, and by expanding it to students at Cascade Middle School and Prairie Mountain School in the Bethel School District.
The program operates on donations - it has received a total of about $150,000 so far - and recently hired Lara Fernandez as its first associate director. It provides lunches and bus passes to all students, and a $50 fellowship to all who complete each year's programs.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 63 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.
Contact: Joe Mosley, UO media relations, 541-346-3606, jmosley@uoregon.edu
Source: Bill Harbaugh, UO professor of economics, 541-346-1244, harbaugh@uoregon.edu; Bruce Blonigen, UO professor of economics, 541-346-4680, bruceb@uoregon.edu; Lara Fernandez, SAIL program associate director, 541-346-8378, laraf@uoregon.edu.
Links: http://sail.uoregon.edu/