PEOPLE summer program puts 994 students on college track

While any number of teenagers are riding roller coasters, serving hamburgers or sleeping until noon this summer, 321 middle school and 673 high school students in the University of Wisconsin–Madison PEOPLE Program are focused on getting into college.

For three weeks every summer, Madison middle-school students wake up at the crack of dawn for a bonding breakfast at Union South, followed by a day immersed in one of 24 workshops. They build robotic insects, take apart computers, pilot simulator airplanes, assemble newscasts and design Japanese kimonos.

“We want to get the students excited about learning, to help them get to know one another and to demystify the big college campus,” says Walter Lane, director of the PEOPLE Program, administered by the School of Education.

The PEOPLE Program works in partnership with public schools to identify academically promising students from culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and provides them with ongoing academic support, including tutoring and summer enrichment.

High school students attend three-week and six-week residential programs on the UW–Madison campus. For most, it’s their first time away from home alone. Their days are filled with challenging coursework, state-of-the-art lab activities, career exploration, study skill strategies and social awareness development.

Along the way, PEOPLE students build a solid network of friends and mentors who may seem very different on the surface, but who keep each other on track toward reaching a shared goal. Students who graduate from the program and are accepted at UW–Madison receive full-tuition scholarships, with 180 awarded thus far.

“This is your time. This is your place,” assistant admissions director Carlos Reyes told a standing-room-only crowd at the Union Theatre on opening day of the summer program. “The seats you are in are very difficult to get. And our expectation is that you will be the leaders who make a change. This is the beginning of success.”

PEOPLE is a cornerstone of Plan 2008, the university’s effort to diversify its student body. The pipeline program has achieved encouraging success since it began, with 66 students from Milwaukee in 1999. Total program enrollment for 2006-07 is 1,225 students.

Ninety-four percent of high school PEOPLE students go on to higher education. Roughly half enter UW–Madison with an average retention of 92 percent, compared to 88 percent for the general student population. Currently, 180 PEOPLE undergraduates are enrolled for the fall 2006 term.

AT&T is a long-time and significant supporter of PEOPLE, having donated $1.75 million to the program since 1999. Last year, the AT&T Foundation — the charitable giving arm of AT&T Inc. — continued its support with a grant in the amount of $125,000 to the UW Foundation.

“AT&T’s long-standing relationship with the PEOPLE program aims to help Wisconsin students overcome obstacles to academic achievement and advancement,” says Paul La Schiazza, president, AT&T Wisconsin. “The program’s success is due to many, including the University of Wisconsin, Governor Doyle and many legislators. AT&T is proud to join them in helping to positively influence the lives of young Wisconsinites.”

The summer PEOPLE Program concludes Friday, July 28 at 11:45 a.m. in the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion of the Kohl Center. Guests of honor are 128 high school seniors who have completed the internship requirement and their proud families from Black River Falls, Keshena, Madison, Milwaukee, Racine and Waukesha. Also being recognized are 70 incoming freshmen, who are enrolled in the summer bridge program required to maintain eligibility for the tuition scholarship.

A flurry of activity takes place during the final week of the PEOPLE summer program, July 24-28. Third-year high school students move one step closer to college as they prepare business presentations, rehearse dance routines and assemble science projects marking their formal completion of the program.