Program inspires teenagers with college ambitions
By Jill Stockton
Even today, more than 40 years after her first experience with the Upward Bound Program at the University of Nevada, Reno Patricia Miltenberger’s memories of the program’s impact remain strong.
Miltenberger, University emerita professor and higher education administrator, was one of the first directors of the program. She can speak authoritatively about the enabling legislation that created Upward Bound, which came out of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to help make the dream of a college education a reality for more American high school students.
But it is on a much more personal level that Miltenberger truly can recall the effect the program had. The year was 1972. Although the Upward Bound program was successful, and high school students from across the state were involved, there were inevitable losses.
“There was a very bright young woman in the program from a rural community,” said Miltenberger. “She was a brilliant writer but had experienced a particularly difficult childhood. During her senior year of high school she got pregnant and dropped out of school and Upward Bound. As a staff, we felt we had failed her. We were very disappointed and couldn’t understand why this had happened.”
Fast-forward to 1988. Miltenberger left the University for a time, returning that year to serve as vice president for student services.
“After returning,” Miltenberger remembered, “I was in my office working and in came this woman. I instantly recognized her. It was the same woman who had dropped out of the program in 1972. I could not believe it was her.”
A joyful reunion followed.
“We immediately began hugging, talking and telling stories,” Miltenberger said. She told me that she had gone on and finished high school and became a nurse.”
The woman was accompanied by her daughter, the child she was pregnant with in 1972.
“I want you to give my daughter what I didn’t take advantage of,” the woman said to Miltenberger.
The moment, powerful then and still powerful today, made Miltenberger cry.
“I cried because she hadn’t benefited from the program, but she had it in her mind, this opportunity of going to college,” Miltenberger said. “There we were almost 18 years later watching things come full circle because this woman had kept the belief in her heart that she could succeed, and passed this ideal onto her daughter. For me, this is one of the most powerful anecdotes of the program, because this woman overcame several tough obstacles to succeed and she made sure that her children would have the opportunity to go to college.”
Although some of the specifics of the Upward Bound program have changed in its 40 years on the Nevada campus, that is the one constant that has helped the program prosper…and continue to this day to influence lives in a profound and lasting way.
Upward Bound is a federally funded program helping more than 170 high school students in northern Nevada each year improve their academic and decision-making skills. The program also helps students gain self-confidence and independence necessary to enter and graduate from post-secondary education. They earn college credit, meet other students from a variety of backgrounds and get assistance for the college or university experience in real time, before it is too late.
The program offers tutoring, career planning and academic advising. Students get to experience and take advantage of Math and Science Regional Centers, college tours, six weeks of the University’s Summer Academy, college shadowing, cultural tours, enrichment activities, college mentors and community services.
Of the many students participating in the University’s Upward Bound program, 95 percent have entered a college or university and 90 percent of those students choose to study at Nevada.
“The University is to be complimented for its consistent support for Upward Bound over the last 40 years,” Miltenberger said. “I’d like to see more of these programs offered in order to reach out to youth and expose them to the college experience.”
Currently, Upward Bound has 117 students attending the program’s six-week Summer Academy. Fourteen teachers, 10 resident assistants and seven tutors are on campus instructing and interacting with students. Students live on campus in Argenta Hall and attend six hours of class each day. They study four core areas and two electives in order to help them prepare for the coming school year.
“The level of enthusiasm from both the students and staff is impressive,” said Erin Frock, interim assistant director for Upward Bound. “We are here to help these students succeed by providing them with the total college experience in a condensed, six-week timeframe.”
University of Nevada, Reno graduate student and Summer Academy Residential Director, Chris Westin, has also been touched by the Upward Bound program.
“I never thought I’d be a college student,” Westin said. “Then I heard about Upward Bound.”
“It was the summer before my freshman year of high school,” Westin said. “When I told my parents about the program they were extremely skeptical because I was not the best student.”
After being accepted into the program, Westin attended his first Summer Academy.
“I met a lot of new people each summer and the staff members were very encouraging and helpful,” Westin said. “Before I knew it I was a high school senior with strong grades looking for financial aid opportunities and applying to different universities.”
Westin added, “The tours of campus and the Summer Academy opened my eyes to what college was like and taught me the importance of education. Upward Bound provided the means for me to go to college and achieve my dream.”
After being accepted by the University of Washington, Arizona State University and the University of Nevada, Reno, Westin decided to enroll at Nevada. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology while participating in the TRIO Scholars Program, a sister program to Upward Bound serving college students. He is now working toward earning a master’s degree in counseling at the University.
“I am the first person in my family to attend college,” Westin said. “My parents are very proud. I can’t imagine what they will feel when I become the first person in my family to not only finish college, but earn a master’s degree in counseling. It is going to be a very special moment for all of us.”
“Like Chris’ story, many of the Upward Bound participants are first-generation, college-bound students needing assistance and information on how to prepare for and apply for college,” said Upward Bound Director Elza Major. “The program’s longevity has helped a lot of students and their families achieve the college dream.”
Because Westin experienced the value of Upward Bound and TRIO, he has been working with Summer Academy students for the last seven years.
“It is extremely rewarding to know that I am touching the lives of students and making a difference by believing in them and investing in their future the same way the counselors, teachers and staff invested in me while I was participating in the program many years ago,” Westin said.
Today’s Upward Bound, like the Upward Bound of 40 years ago, remains true to its roots.
“Upward Bound is continuing to provide the cultural capital to students and their parents, helping them understand what needs to happen in order to get to college,” said Major.
Miltenberger feels there are many similarities between the early program and Upward Bound today.
“In the beginning our main focus was to target rural Native American communities as well disadvantaged youths with the potential for college, and the Summer Academy,” Miltenberger said. “We brought students to campus in order to make sure they had the academic classes necessary to be successful. Elective classes were also offered, as well as the Bridge Program, where high school seniors could earn college credit over the summer.”
A tough challenge faced the early program.
“We had students from Las Vegas, Ely, McDermott, Hawthorne, Yerington, Fallon and Gardnerville,” Miltenberger said. “Students were spread all over the state, making the mandate to serve the state during the academic year very difficult.”
Miltenberger would drive a 1,200-mile state circuit once a month in an old Chevrolet Camaro.
“It is quite humorous; 40 years ago the roads were not what they are today,” she said. “It was not interstate so there are a few times I remember destroying more than one Camaro out there on the road.”
Miltenberger said the main component the original program lacked was following-up with students, regularly.
“We lacked the resources needed to bring students to campus for weekly and monthly meetings and reunions,” Miltenberger said. “Today’s Upward Bound is much more interactive and has a larger intervention piece than the original.”
Staff members and students alike gained a greater perspective on the value of education because of their involvement with Upward Bound.
Miltenberger added, “Anytime you work with youth, you always have to be impressed with their future, their potential and their energy. This made me want to work with young people and it changed my whole focus.”
Miltenberger said that each member of the original staff ended up in ‘helping’ professions. One staff member went on to become a civil rights attorney in San Francisco.
“When you work with kids who have socio-economic disadvantages it gives you a sense of social justice,” Miltenberger said. “You realize that people’s opportunities are limited by their status, and it drove us to select careers focusing on social justice or education as a means to fight social injustice.”
Upward Bound has a bright future.
Today’s program at the University operates on an annual budget of $884,865. Funds for three, four-year grants serving students from nine high schools in northern Nevada come from the U.S. Department of Education. The most recent four-year funding for three Upward Bound programs totals $2,384,865 for 2007-2010.
The first Upward Bound program came out of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Office of Economic Opportunity. It was then administered by the Department of Education before it found its local home at the College of Education’s Research and Educational Planning Center.
Upward Bound applications are available by contacting a high school guidance counselor or by contacting the Upward Bound program at the University. A student can apply any time during the year, and may be admitted to the program as an opening comes available during the academic year. Students who apply during the summer may be admitted the following academic year.
Jill Stockton is an interim communication director for University-wide matters and the College of Health and Human Sciences.
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