Area high school student participants in Boston University’s Upward Bound Program will meet Friday and Saturday to mark the annual Trio Day, scheduled to include a college fair, area college tour and rally at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.
Trio Day participants Friday will attend a college fair and postcard-writing campaign to members of Congress. Saturday, they will tour BU, Babson College, Boston College, University of Massachusetts at Boston, Northeastern University and Simmons College, among others. About 600 students are scheduled to attend.
Students will rally at the Park Plaza Hotel with local officials and politicians, including Sen. Dianne Wilkerson (Roxbury, Fenway) at 11 a.m.
Reggie Jean, Upward Bound’s academic coordinator, said he hopes the rally will draw the attention of local politicians and voters to equal opportunity education and other educational issues.
“This is a good avenue for communication between politicians and the student body,” he said. “Hopefully it will also help voters keep in mind which political candidates support these programs.”
National TRIO programs help students from low-income families stay in high school and go on to college. Trio Day is part of an effort to promote equal educational opportunities.
Upward Bound is a federally and state-funded college preparatory program for first-generation and low-income Boston Public High School students and includes instruction on college campuses in literature, composition, math and science. The program runs weekdays after school, on Saturdays and during an intensive six-week program over the summer.
Jean, who became involved in the program as a tutor in 1993 while he was a junior in college, was enthusiastic about it from the beginning.
“I believe the direct link to the future is through education and working with students,” he said.
Michael Dennehy, BU’s Upward Bound director, said the program benefits both the student participants and the BU community.
“The program gives BU students the opportunity to give back to students who are just beginning to go though the college process,” Dennehy said. “I think it’s important that the rest of the community is connected to Boston schools.”
BU became a host to the program in 1989. Upward Bound classes are taught by a combination of high school teachers and college students.
According to statistics released by the BU Upward Bound Program, since 1991, more than 88 percent of Upward Bound graduates have gone on to post-secondary study.
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