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Little Elm High School to host Grand Opening of TWU Go Center
Sept. 14 at 10 a.m.
9/13/06
MEDIA
ALERT
WHO: Texas Woman’s University and Little Elm High School
will host the Grand Opening of the TWU Go Center at Little
Elm High School on Thursday, Sept. 14 at 10 a.m. Scheduled
to attend and/or speak are: Little Elm Independent School
District (LEISD) Superintendent Steve Murray; several LEISD
School Board Members; TWU Vice President of Student Life Dr.
Richard Nicholas; TWU Associate Vice President of Student
Life Dr. Monica Mendez-Grant and Director of TWU Intercultural
Services Becky Rodriguez.
WHAT: The Grand
Opening Celebration will officially open the TWU Go Center
at Little Elm High School for the 2006-2207 school year. A
Go Center is a physical space in a high school that offers
students admission and financial aid application assistance
and other information to encourage greater participation in
higher education by potential first generation college students.
Go Centers are part of The Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board’s First Generation College Student Program designed
to encourage greater participation in higher education. TWU
opened five Go Centers during the 2005-2006 school year and
has received requests to open 20 centers in 2006-2007. This
the second year that TWU has operated a Go Center at Little
Elm High School.
WHEN: Thursday,
Sept. 14 at 10 a.m.
WHERE: Little Elm
High School located at 1900 Walker Ln, Little Elm, TX 75068
BACKGROUND:
See below for a recent news release on TWU Go Centers release
for background information.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
6/12/06
Contact: Amanda Simpson
940/898-3456
asimpson1@mail.twu.edu
Peer Educators
Driving Force of TWU’s First Generation College Retention
Programs
June 12, 2006 -
DENTON – “If I can go to college, you can too.”
This is the message that the students in the Texas Woman’s
University’s First Generation College Student Program
and the student organization G-Force deliver to their high
school peers as part of TWU’s efforts to increase higher
education enrollment for first generation college students.
“These TWU
students serve as mentors to high school students, participate
in college enrollment workshops and help to staff TWU sponsored
high school Go Centers,” said Becky Rodriguez, director
of TWU intercultural services.
Currently TWU operates
five Go Centers in four North Texas counties. A Go Center
is a physical space in the high school that offers students
admission and financial aid application assistance and other
information to encourage greater participation in higher education
by potential first generation college students.
About 100 TWU students
participate in the TWU First Generation College Student Program
and G-Force. These students must meet G.P.A. and leadership
requirements and receive scholarships, ranging from $400 to
$1,000, for their participation. The Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board awarded TWU a $50,000 First Generation
College Student grant to fund the project.
“Each week
(during the school year) I talked with high school students
about going to college,” said Stephanie Ozuna, a TWU
business management senior and the founder and immediate past
president of the G-Force student organization. “I would
talk about my college experience and offer guidance on admissions
and financial aid applications.”
According to Ozuna,
the high school students who came to the Go Center seemed
to relate well to their peer educators and had an enthusiastic
response to the advice they were hearing. She added that the
most common obstacle to college for these students is financial.
“They feel
that they can’t afford to go to college, and since they
are potentially first generation college students, going to
work immediately after high school or quitting high school
to earn money is all they know,” Ozuna said. “Many
aren’t even aware that financial aid exists or that
they are eligible to receive it.”
Rubi Trevino, a
TWU dance senior and current G-Force president, added, “The
students seem more open to going to college after they talk
with us. We are examples of what they can do, and by sharing
our stories we can motivate them to apply to college.”
Rodriguez added,
“G-Force members are there to encourage post high school
education. Whether its community college, a four-year college
or university or trade school, we want the students to think
beyond high school in order to go on to have successful careers.”
G-Force was started
at TWU in Spring 2004 and the first TWU Go Center open in
Spring 2005. The university opened five Go Centers during
the 2005-2006 school year and has received requests to open
20 centers in 2006-2007.
“We have
loved the opportunity to work with TWU in the Go Center,”
said Donna Carpenter, career and technology campus coordinator
with Coppell High School in Dallas County. “With our
partnership with TWU, we have been able to bring a new dimension
of college planning for our students, and our counselors have
welcomed the assistance the TWU G-Force members provide.”
Though no hard
numbers on program participants are yet available, those involved
with the project believe it is having an impact.
“Anecdotal
data seems to indicate that the Go Centers are a success,”
Dr. Richard Nicholas, TWU vice president for student life,
said. “TWU has seen a remarkable increase in college
applicants from the high schools where we had Go Centers,
and we aren’t the only university to experience an increase
in applications from these schools.”
The Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board has been so impressed with TWU’s
Go Centers, that they have cited the program as model for
other universities to emulate throughout the state.
“We have
been asked to provide trainings to other universities in Texas
about our Go Centers/G-Force success,” Dr. Nicholas
said.
According to the Coordinating Board’s Closing the Gaps
– The Higher Education Plan, “a large gap exists
among racial/ethnic groups in both enrollment and graduation
rates from the state’s colleges and universities.”
The main goal of
the initiative is to increase higher education enrollment
in Texas by 500,000 students by 2015. The report goes on to
add that, “Reaching the goal will also require increasing
participation from every population group, but especially
Hispanics and Blacks.”
“TWU has
played a key role in increasing Hispanic student retention
through their use of the First Generation College Student
grant to fund the G-Force and Go Center, as well as leverage
other funding sources,” said Natalie Coffey with the
Division of Outreach and Success at the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board. “The support from Dr. Nicholas and
TWU Chancellor and President Dr. Ann Stuart has been crucial
to the success of the program, because Hispanic student retention
was established as an immediate priority and the necessary
resources were dedicated to these efforts. We will continue
to work closely with TWU to track the progress and success
of Hispanic students who are and will be served by these programs.”
Chris Alvarado,
senior program director for outreach for the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board, said, “TWU has been a
stellar partner in helping close the gaps in higher education
as exemplified by their development of a successful collegiate
G-Force model and their strong sense of collaboration with
other local institutions of higher education.”
Dr. Nicholas said,
“TWU is strongly committed to our partnerships with
area high schools in order to increase the college-going rates
necessary to meet the state’s Closing the Gaps goals.”
More information
on TWU’s G-Force and Go Centers is available at www.twu.edu/intercultural-services/go-centers.aspl.
For more information on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board and Closing the Gaps visit www.thecb.state.tx.us.
###
For Further
Information Contact:
Amanda McKeen Simpson
Director of News and Information
Tel: (940) 898-3456
e-mail: asimpson1@twu.edu |
