AT&T Grant Will Support Summer Program Designed to Help Transition
Multicultural, First Generation Students from High School to College
WHITEWATER, Thursday, August 22, 2013 — AT&T Wisconsin announced today that the UW-Whitewater Foundation has received a $5,000 AT&T Innovation & Investment Award to support the King/Chavez Scholars Program on the UW-Whitewater campus.
The AT&T Award will support a summer program designed to help transition 75 multicultural, first generation and low-income students in the King/Chavez Scholars Program from high school to college courses at UW-Whitewater. The program began in the fall of 1997 and is designed to attract and retain talented multicultural students at UW-Whitewater.
“Our King/Chavez Scholars Program has been instrumental in helping transform talented multicultural high school students into promising university scholars and young professionals,” said Richard McGregory, Jr., UW-Whitewater Assistant Vice Chancellor for Multicultural Affairs and Student Success. “With this donation from AT&T, we will be able to enhance our summer program and help prepare students to be successful both in college and in the workforce.”
Specifically, the King/Chavez Scholars Program:
· Prepares students for the transition from high school to college;
· Provides students with a peer group for academic and social reinforcement;
· Gives students the opportunity to have a relationship with a faculty mentor;
· Introduces students to high impact educational practices and their relationship to classroom and career performance; and
· Makes students competitive for internships.
“Through its King/Chavez program, UW-Whitewater has been very successful in preparing multicultural students to attend and graduate college prepared for careers,” said State Representative Andy Jorgensen (D-Fort Atkinson). “This program not only provides opportunities for many students who are the first in their families to attend college, but also helps prepare students for jobs in Wisconsin’s workforce – a priority we share.”
Of the 60 King/Chavez Scholars in the 2012-13 classes, over 90 percent were from Wisconsin. Many graduates of the program have elected to remain in Wisconsin after college and are gainfully employed in private, public and not-for-profit entities.
“As a company, AT&T is committed to investing education and helping prepare our young people to be our future leaders,” said AT&T Wisconsin Director of Government Affairs Dextra Hadnot, who attended UW-Whitewater. “We are very proud to support the King/Chavez Scholars Program and the efforts of UW-Whitewater to attract, retain and promote the success of multicultural students in Wisconsin.”
The AT&T Wisconsin Innovation & Investment Award program provides funding to organizations and programs that improve the community by: advancing education, enhancing the environment, promoting economic development, or delivering other community services. This is the second year of the new program that supports local organizations that enhance and give back to their communities.
For more information, contact:
Jessica Erickson, AT&T Wisconsin
608-282-7870 (work)
jessica.erickson@att.com
