Michigan Schools in the Middle partners with Flint high schools

Central Michigan University’s Michigan Schools in the Middle is reaching out to a new population: high school students and their parents.

A coalition of CMU organizations – including MSIM, Gaining Early Awareness and
Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, the Office of Residence Life, and Minority Student Services – will partner with high schools in the Flint Community Schools to help students see themselves as college material, prepare for college entrance exams, complete college and financial aid applications, and experience life on CMU’s campus.

MSIM recently received a $308,275 grant from the university’s CMU 2010 fund to start the program and offer it for two-and-a-half years.

Among the partnership’s goals are increasing recruitment and retention of minority students from Flint Community Schools and, ultimately, tripling CMU’s annual enrollment of Flint graduates by 2009.

“We wanted to expand to work with high schools, particularly considering the new high school graduation requirements,” said MSIM Director Pat Benson, whose advisory group for the project has been meeting for more than a year. “And much of the middle-grades reform we’ve done is also appropriate for high schools.”

Flint Community Schools Superintendent Walter Milton is an enthusiastic supporter of the new partnership.

“We believe that CMU has a lot to offer our students and look forward to additional collaborative work with the university,” he said.

Program offers ongoing personal contact

The new program began during the spring 2007 semester with a kick-off meeting for interested students and their parents. Up to 50 of the 230-plus 11th-grade students who were nominated by teachers and counselors will be selected to participate in the program.
Activities planned for the selected participants and their families include:

• Weekly tutoring sessions led by Flint-area volunteers

• Monthly or bimonthly “community dinners”
  in Flint and at CMU, featuring presentations by CMU students, faculty, and staff members

• A five-day, on-campus institute for
  students during the summer between 11th and 12th grades. Students will live in CMU residence halls and participate in academic, public service, social, and college preparation activities while exploring CMU’s campus and theMount Pleasant community. The second week of the summer program will take place in Flint and will include team-building and academic preparation activities.
  

For students who are accepted to CMU and opt to attend, the program will have a second phase, which will include continued availability of staff and faculty advisors, CMU student mentors, and “community dinners.”

“I am not aware of any other program for minority student recruitment and retention which provides participants with such a high level of ongoing personal contact with university students, faculty, and project staff,” said MSIM staff member Amy Voege, who wrote the grant proposal. •