Heidelberg grant targets minority students

New partnership with Heidelberg, Fremont school offers opportunity, support for college success
Heidelberg, the Fremont City Schools and the African American College Club/ACE are collaborating on a new program that will provide greater access and affordability to minority students seeking higher education opportunities.

The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges has awarded Heidelberg a $15,000 grant to implement the new program that will draw in minority students, assist them with academic preparation, expose them to college campuses and provide mentoring, social and cultural activities, information on financial aid and admissions and a peer-buddy program.

“Heidelberg College has been challenged to increase minority student recruitment, and the demographics in Fremont suggest a population of students who stand to benefit from this new program. This seemed like a natural pairing,” said Thandabantu Maceo, vice president of enrollment and marketing at Heidelberg and co-author of the grant along with Gayle Jackson of Fremont, founder and director of ACE, and Fremont Superintendent Traci McCaudy.

While the grant will fund programs that will create a more diverse learning environment at Heidelberg, it also will provide focused opportunities to a growing number of minority high school graduates, Maceo said. Educational outreach – stretching across the state – also will be an integral part of the program.

“Through this program, we hope to significantly increase our new first-time minority student enrollment over the next five years. Our goal is to increase black and Hispanic enrollment from 6 percent to 12 percent, which is the state level,” he said.

And when minority students are enrolled at Heidelberg, the college is committed to retaining them to graduation. A Student Success Initiative that is taking shape, along with Heidelberg’s START program that provides academic assistance to first-year students in need, is designed help narrow the gap in graduation rate between minority and all students.

In addition to targeting students from Fremont City Schools and surrounding areas, Heidelberg will include it its recruitment strategy visits to Ohio’s TRIO Summer Bridge sites, which are educational opportunity outreach programs that motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Presentations to the Summer Bridge students will underscore the importance of obtaining a college degree and provide instruction about how to go to college.

“This initiative will expand our reach to literally hundreds of under-represented and minority students throughout Ohio,” Maceo said.

A peer-buddy program that would pair a current Heidelberg student with each incoming freshman would help the new students acclimate to college life, and ultimately improve retention. The program also would include an academically focused summer residential program of several days for high school juniors on Heidelberg’s campus.

 
Posted 7-3-2007