Last Friday, we welcomed to our Hill a group of 134 new high school graduates from seven states, along with their parents, grandparents, family and friends, for WKU’s inaugural Summer Scholars program. This new program provides a unique, five-week opportunity for students with below-threshold GPAs to experience a trial run at college – where they get to experience college level classes and WKU life on the Hill, while also being given a chance to demonstrate their readiness to pursue a four-year degree.
We know these students’ GPAs and their aspirations to attend WKU. What we don’t know is each student’s backstory, the obstacles faced during high school, the ability to persevere and the level of commitment to persist through challenges. In the next five weeks, we will learn these things and more.
With some extra support and assistance from us, these students can achieve their dreams of a college education. We have worked for over a year to carefully design our Summers Scholars program to provide this group with not only an opportunity to attend WKU, but to increase each student’s likelihood of earning a degree. Grounded in the literature on college retention and borrowing from best practices across the nation, our team has brought this complex project to fruition for WKU.
