4/9/2007
Media Contact:
David Harris, The Mind Trust, 317-822-8102 x100
Mary Louise Bewley, IPS, 317-226-4649 |
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The Mind Trust awards $100,000 to launch new pilot program to increase college attendance among IPS high school students
Indianapolis – IPS Superintendent Dr. Eugene G. White, Mayor Bart Peterson, and The Mind Trust President and CEO David Harris today announced the launch of College Summit in the City of Indianapolis. College Summit is a nationally recognized nonprofit that dramatically increases college-going rates among low-income students.
Also at the announcement were J. B. Schramm, the founder of College Summit and Martha Lamkin, President and CEO of the Lumina Foundation.
The Mind Trust is a new non profit that focuses on supporting public education by attracting highly talented educational leaders and quality programs to the city. The organization worked closely with IPS to recruit College Summit to Indianapolis and is providing $100,000 to launch a pilot program at Emmerich Manual High School on the city’s south side.
While focusing on Manual during the 2007-08 school year, both IPS and The Mind Trust hope to expand the program to all IPS high schools in the 2008-09 school year.
College Summit builds the capacity of schools to dramatically increase college-going rates in the schools where its program is implemented, and accomplishes this through several initiatives:
- Introducing a college and post-secondary education planning course for all seniors;
- Providing teachers and counselors with professional development to teach the course and support the students;
- Training influential students to forge a student-driven, college-going culture; and
- Using a well developed system to manage the school-wide college enrollment process.
Manual students will get a first taste of College Summit this summer when they attend a special workshop June 28-July 1 at the University of Indianapolis. During the workshop, students will complete an entire college application.
College Summit currently operates in 10 states and partners with nearly 20 school districts. Almost 80% of students who attend College Summit’s summer workshop enroll in college, significantly above the national college enrollment rate among low-income students of 46%. Also, students who attend the workshop are more likely to remain in college once accepted, with retention rates of 80%, compared the national average of 64% across all income levels.
“College Summit will change the expectations for many of our city’s children because they will learn that college can be a reality. This will have truly long-lasting effects, not only on those children and their families, but on our entire community,” said Mayor Bart Peterson, who also serves as chair of The Mind Trust board.
“Students who participate in this life-changing program will discover education is indeed the doorway that leads out of poverty,” Dr. Eugene White, a member of The Mind Trust board.
“As a result of this program, students who otherwise were not headed to college next year will go to college,” said David Harris, President and CEO of The Mind Trust. “We won’t have to wait to see lives transformed by this program.”
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