Grants
GEAR UP in Camden
Archived article from Sep 24, 1999
A new program designed to prepare low-income minority children in Camden to pursue a college education began this fall, thanks to a five-year, $1.08 million grant to the Camden campus.
The federal GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) award will help students at the LEAP (Leadership, Education And Partnership) Academy charter school prepare themselves for success in college. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, professor of urban studies, founded the LEAP Academy, which emphasizes mathematics and the sciences for students in grades K-7.
Beginning in the fifth grade, LEAP students will begin preparing for college through regular visits to Rutgers-Camden and other institutions; mentoring relationships with scholars and business leaders; summer internships; and career clubs. Parents and teachers will also participate in programs designed to continue the children's progress at home and at school.
Among 185 recipients nationwide, Rutgers-Camden is the only South Jersey institution to receive this award. Two organizations in North Jersey also were presented with GEAR UP grants.
--Michael Sepanic
Upward Bound comes to Newark The Academic Foundations Center on the Newark campus has received a four-year, $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to begin Upward Bound, a program that addresses the low high-school graduation rate in eight northern New Jersey cities.
Upward Bound is a national effort to assist underprepared students from urban public schools. The Newark campus's Upward Bound program will help 40 to 50 students per year from economically disadvantaged school districts in Essex, Hudson and Union counties successfully complete high school and move on to college, according to Associate Dean Janice Robinson, director of the Academic Foundations Center.
Begun in 1965 under the federal Higher Education Act, approximately 700 Upward Bound programs are in operation nationwide. Upward Bound offers assistance in math, laboratory science, foreign languages, composition and literature, as well as counseling and tutoring, career guidance and other academic assistance. Classes will be held on the Newark campus all day Saturdays for 12-week semesters beginning in January. A five-week summer session is also planned.
--Michael Olohan
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