PEOPLE completes summer programs with public events

Two events will mark the final week of the summer 2005 Pre-college Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE) Program on the UW–Madison campus. More than 800 PEOPLE students have participated on campus over the past three months.

On Wednesday, July 27, 21 students from Milwaukee- and Madison-area high schools will deliver presentations wrapping up their six-week learning internships in the School of Business. The program will take place at 10 a.m. in 1220 Grainger Hall. On Friday, July 29, the 2005 PEOPLE Recognition Banquet will be held at 11:45 a.m. at the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion of the Kohl Center.

The event will honor PEOPLE high school students completing their final research and internship program as well as welcoming PEOPLE graduates who will be enrolling as UW–Madison freshmen in the fall. Both events are open to the media.

“This has been another successful year for the PEOPLE Program,” says UW–Madison Chancellor John Wiley. “In particular, we want to recognize program participants and their parents, relatives, friends and supporters. We’re proud of their hard work, dedication and perseverance.”

PEOPLE is an innovative partnership designed to encourage post-secondary education for Wisconsin disadvantaged and minority students. The program has several components, including:

• A three-week residential program for the first two years and six-week research/internship experience for the third and final year.
• A three-week middle school program featuring on-campus and hands-on workshops and a transition program for rising 10th-graders.
• The PEOPLE Prep Program, a new pilot with Madison’s Northport and Packer Learning Communities, to prepare students starting as early as second grade for eventual admission to the PEOPLE Middle School Program.
• The PEOPLE Undergraduate Program, made up of PEOPLE students who have completed the pre-college phases, applied and been admitted to UW–Madison’s undergraduate program, and received a PEOPLE tuition scholarship of up to five years.

As part of the business internship program, students received a broad overview of various business disciplines along with classes to enhance their presentation, communication, writing and math skills. The students, who will be high school seniors in the fall, have been part of the university’s PEOPLE program for several years.

Students attended classes stressing business and communication skills. In the afternoon, they worked in internship positions at local businesses. As part of their real-world experience, students visited area businesses and took a field trip to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in Milwaukee. The final presentations will focus on companies of interest to teens, such as Best Buy, Starbucks, Disney and Wal-Mart.

“Students have learned a lot of the various aspects of business, and it helps them find out if it’s something that they’re interested in pursuing,” says Judy Cary, director of the School of Business Learning Center and coordinator of the business internship program. “It gives them a great feel for what it’s all about.”

The Recognition Banquet will honor the “graduating” PEOPLE pre-college students, some 148 students who are finishing the third year of the pre-college phase of PEOPLE and who will be entering their senior year in high school this fall. Students will be eligible to apply for a five-year tuition grant and enter UW–Madison as undergraduates in 2006. Banquet attendees will include Wiley, Provost Peter Spear, SBC Wisconsin President Paul LaSchiazza and keynote speaker Wisconsin Revenue Secretary Michael Morgan.

This year’s graduating class will form the first “double” cohort. In addition to the high school PEOPLE students who have been in the program for the last three years, the cohort includes the original and first cohort of middle school students from Madison Metropolitan School District schools who entered the PEOPLE program in 2000. For fall 2005, 41 new undergraduates have been admitted. This fall, there will be approximately 117 PEOPLE graduates as undergraduate students on campus.

The SBC Foundation is a long-time and significant supporter of PEOPLE, having donated nearly $1 million to the program. Last year, the SBC Foundation — the charitable giving arm of SBC Communications Inc. — continued its support with a grant in the amount of $250,000 to the UW Foundation.