July 26, 1998
Bowling Green program eases transition to college for minorities
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
The joys of college life. Communal bathroom facilities, roommates that you may or may not get along with, and course work that isn't anything like high school.
These can appear daunting to most freshmen entering college, but may seem even more so to a minority student. However, Bowling Green State University instituted a program 10 years ago to encourage minority enrollment and help ease the transition to college.
The six-week summer program allows Afro-American and Hispanic high school students throughout Ohio to see what Bowling Green has to offer them. A Seneca County Hispanic student, Amy Cruz, 17, a Bettsville High School senior, is taking part in the Pre-College Enrichment Program this summer.
She heard about the program from her guidance counselor, Claudia Chapman. She has been at BGSU since July 21 and will remain there until the program's end Aug. 1. Already, her involvement has influenced possible career choices for Cruz.
''I've been going to Vanguard Vocational Center because I wanted to be in cosmetology,'' Cruz explained. ''And I have thought about going into business or becoming an architect. But once I came here and did some research, I'm kind of undecided. I'm thinking of doing something more like psychology, of doing more with people.''
Recruiting for the program is done by the high schools through their administrators and counselors, choosing students that they feel would qualify for and benefit from the program, according to Marcos Rivera, assistant director for Multicultural Affairs at Bowling Green State University.
Rivera said the program ''was started first of all to address the lack of diversity at Bowling Green State University. Through that process, it was decided to start an academic program that will allow black and Hispanic students a chance to come on campus for a six-week enrichment program to see what Bowling Green has to offer them.''
Rivera said that the whole college experience is opened up to the students &emdash; college classes, residence hall life, as well as planned activities both on and off campus.
Cruz is staying in Batchelder residence hall. ''The dorm is a lot smaller than your room at home. And you have to get along with everybody,'' she said. ''We have gone to King's Island, and we are going to an NWA basketball game. We have done a lot of things &emdash; rent movies, go to movies &emdash; we see a lot of movies.''
She has done her laundry &emdash; ''you need alot of quarters'' &emdash; and has $14 a day alotted to her on a temporary card that she can spend on food in the dining facilities on campus. And she is learning about other cultures besides her own.
''The program has educated me a lot on prejudice and racism. Coming from an all white community, I have learned the history behind it and made me understand about it. It gave me a better insight,'' Cruz said. The school has also provided the students with information on the different resources and groups on campus that deal with multicultural issues.
Course work stresses math and science skills, according to Rivera. ''It is important for students to have math and science to reinforce what they are learning in high school. They are taking an integrated science course, math that covers trigonometry and calculus, philosophy, writing composition and computer science. As they learn the material, they find that it is veryadvanced, but it is done in a way to reinforce their classes or to better prepare them for their junior or senior years.''
He said of the students to arrive from 18 cities in Ohio, half will be juniors, half seniors. ''We encourage rising seniors to participate, because they will have a better understanding of college. We have had students come back to participate twice,'' Rivera said.
Rivera said that the program has tracked data over the years on the students who participated to see if they had gone on to higher education.
''We have done a longitudinal study of former participants and have found that 95 percent of those who participated in PEP did go on to higher education. And of those that come here, we have over 80 students currently enrolled here who were in the program. About 23 have graduated, and we currently have a full-time student enrollment of 35 students; many of them are part-time students,'' he said.
Students who have participated in the PEP program have a slight advantage over other minority students applying for scholarships at Bowling Green State University.
''However, they still need to have the qualifications for those schoarships &emdash; to have a 3.0 GPA, and a 20 or better ACT score. But if they already have those, and have participated in the program, it shows that they are already committed to the college experience, and that they are already familiar with it. And research shows that the student who participates will have more success academically and socially if they go there as a college student. They come better equipped with the tools and skills to do better at school this year,'' Rivera said.
The program is free to the students; Rivera said that the University is committed to the program and that it is funded by the Division of Student Affairs.
And Cruz is thinking of making Bowling Green her college choice. ''I'm definitely looking at BG. There are a couple of others I'll look at, but BG will probably be my number one choice,'' she said.