Jessica Doyle to speak at PEOPLE pre-college celebration

Wisconsin First Lady Jessica Doyle will be the keynote speaker as 167 Wisconsin high school students and 80 newly enrolled University of Wisconsin–Madison freshmen are recognized Friday, Aug. 3, for academic achievement.

The event honorees are participants in the Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE), serving more than 1,000 racial or ethnic minority and low-income students from Wisconsin public schools.

The recognition luncheon and ceremony will begin at 11:45 a.m. in the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion of the Kohl Center. The event is expected to last about 90 minutes; media are welcome to attend.

Musical performances and speeches by students from Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe High School, as well as Madison, Milwaukee and Verona high schools are planned. Students will speak about the personal impact of the program, their readiness for college and their hopes for the future.

"These students represent the best and the brightest from throughout Wisconsin," says Jacqueline DeWalt, program director. "We are incredibly proud of what they have accomplished, sometimes in the face of great adversity."

Total program participation, spanning second grade to graduate school, is about 1,200 students. Eighty public schools are represented from throughout Wisconsin. Of the students who complete the program, 99 percent graduate from high school; 94 percent attend college; and 52 percent enroll at UW–Madison where they have a 91 percent retention rate, which is higher than their peers.

Other speakers are: Scott VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin, a longtime supporter of the program; UW–Madison’s Darrell Bazzell, vice chancellor for administration; and Julie Underwood, dean of the School of Education.

For information, contact Lisa Ray Johnson at lrjohnson2@wisc.edu, (608) 262-0855 or Jacqueline DeWalt at jadewalt@education.wisc.edu, (608)265-5722.