Foundation support brings students to Summer College on scholarships

Kelly Dukes (second from left), a Cornell Summer College student from Northern High School in Baltimore, takes part in a picnic at Taughannock Falls State Park July 24 as part of the Family Weekend sponsored by Cornell and the Friends of Sapient Charitable Foundation. Dukes is joined by mentor Marc Procaccino, left, a project manager with Sapient, and her mother and father, Jacqueline and Moses Sorrell. Charles Harrington/University Photography

This summer, Cornell Summer College programs for high school students celebrated a new collaboration with Teach for America and the Friends of Sapient Charitable Foundation (FSCF). Thanks to the new partnership, four students from Northern High School in Baltimore, Md., attended Summer College on full scholarships.

To mark the new alliance, FSCF and Cornell hosted an on-campus Family Weekend in July, at which sponsored students were joined by their parents and/or guardians, teachers, mentors and representatives from FSCF and Teach for America. The weekend featured a reception and buffet on the sixth floor of the Johnson Museum, a tour of the Cornell campus, a chance for parents to attend classes, a picnic at Taughannock Falls State Park and a banquet at the Statler Hotel.

The collaboration with FSCF and Teach for America is just one example of the many successful partnerships that Summer College has forged with high schools and corporations across the United States. Over the years, these partnerships have provided hundreds of students with opportunities to explore college life. The funders hope their support will encourage students and families to consider and plan for college and will help students gain entrance to and succeed in college, Summer College officials say.

Cornell Summer College, one of the oldest and largest summer academic programs, introduces high school students to the challenges of college study and helps ease their transition to college. Each year, more than 600 juniors and seniors enroll in this academically challenging, six-week program. Summer College also offers career exploration seminars; college study skills, math and computer workshops; and a look at the college admissions process through the eyes of admissions officers. The 1999 summer program ran from June 26 to Aug. 10.

Examples of other successful partnerships with Cornell's Summer College include an ongoing relationship with Jefferson Davis High School in Houston, Texas. A number of Jefferson Davis students who participated in the Summer College program have gone on to attend Cornell and other Ivy League schools, a rare event for this school and these students. In addition, for the first time Summer College hosted a student from the innovative "See Forever" school, also known as the Maya Angelou Public Charter School, in Washington, D.C.

For more information about Cornell Summer College or about sponsoring students, contact Cornell University Summer College, B20 Day Hall, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853-2801; phone 255-6203; fax 255-8942.