|
Youths get taste of college life |
 |
|
Photo
by Peggy Harrison
|
| U.Va.
student Janay Jones (left) works with Alvita Adams, an eighth-grader
at Buford Middle School, during one of the study sessions held
in the school’s library this spring. Jones is one of some
40 U.Va. students who volunteer their time in U.Va.’s “Day
in the Life” mentorship program. U.Va. students are paired
one-on-one with their middle-school mentees. |
By Fariss Samarrai
What
do you do with middle school students who are smart, funny, maybe
a little sassy, and not on track to go to college?
Send
them to college.
That’s
what the University of Virginia is doing with about 40 students
from Buford Middle School in Charlottesville. The Buford students
are getting a taste of college life firsthand from U.Va. students
who are serving as mentors, inspirational guides and friends.
“U.Va.
students are a part of the Charlottesville community,” said
first-year student and mentor Cassidy Fludd. “We should share
our college life with kids in the community.”
The
program, called “A Day in the Life,” is in its first year,
and already the Buford students have spent a lot more than a day
in the life of their U.Va. student mentors. The pairs study together,
go to U.Va. sports and social events together, attend U.Va. classes
together and stay in regular communication, even during school breaks.
The Buford students are seeing firsthand that college is fun and
challenging, and that college students do more than party. Full
story.
Centralized approach needed to recruit
minority grad students
By Anne Bromley
When
a young Argentine came to the United States in 1980 for a medical
fellowship, his new neighbors — two children followed by their
mother — welcomed him with a homemade cake.
More
than 20 years later, Dr. Ariel Gomez, U.Va.’s interim vice
president for research and graduate studies, wants to extend a similar
welcome to minority graduate students, although the cake’s
ingredients would consist of stipends and resources. Full
story.
|
