Annual summer program at YVC gives Lower Valley students taste of college life

Granger High School junior Elijah Magana worked on math problems Tuesday morning while a 6-foot-tall Ferris wheel rotated behind her. Earlier in the week she helped assemble it out of colorful plastic K’NEX pieces during STEM class as a part of Yakima Valley College’s TRIO Upward Bound program.

During the school year, the program serves over 100 students from Granger, Sunnyside, Toppenish and Wapato high schools, director Isaias Guerrero said. Students receive academic support and advice on how to navigate college admissions.

In the summer, students can take part in YVC’s residential program. Participating students stay on campus three days a week for six weeks and take classes at YVC, for which they earn high school credit.

Students from this year’s summer cohort said they learned a lot from the experience and enjoyed meeting new people.

Onward and Upward Bound

TRIO Upward Bound is a federally funded program that aims to help low-income high school students attain a college education. These teens are considered first-generation college students, meaning their parents had no college education. Sometimes these students are the first in their families to attend college.

YVC oversees the local implementation of the program. Students from participating schools in the Lower Yakima Valley can apply online in late summer or early fall. Some stay with the program for multiple years.

Guerrero said the program’s top goals are supporting academic retention and graduation. It also exposes students to possibilities in higher education. The summer program is a key part of that.

“The idea is that they’re going to get that college experience while they’re still in high school,” he said.

Students opt into the summer program at no cost. This year 33 participated.

Upward Bound summer students also go on excursions to visit college campuses and have a little fun, program coordinator Maria Rodriguez said. This year they’ve been bowling and to amusement centers in Yakima and Spokane.

Summer of learning

The summer program includes six weeks of classes. On-campus classes include Japanese, language arts, math and STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math.

Students also completed some work online or at home. Instructors send them home with kits containing the equipment they need to study phenomena like acid rain.

By completing the summer program, students earn high school elective credits, Rodriguez said.

Josh Schlegel has been a Upward Bound summer instructor for 16 years. He teaches math and STEM classes. He said the summer students tend to be really engaged in class, partly because of the variety of courses.

“We’re very fortunate that over the years we’ve been able to build a program that has many different things to offer students,” he said.

Granger High School junior Magana, who has been in Upward Bound since she was a freshman, said STEM class was her favorite this summer. She likes its hands-on activities.

In STEM class, students put together remote control cars they can pilot from their phones and used a 3D printer to make their own creations.

Schlegel said students often exhibit resilience when working on their projects. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts to get something right, especially when working with the program’s 3D printing machines. But they stick with it.

“It’s problem-based learning at its finest,” he said.

Upward and beyond

The aim of the program is to show potential first-generation college students that higher education is within reach. Some of the participants already have college on their minds.

Lukas Scott is entering his senior year at Toppenish High School. He said he wants to study civil engineering at an instate college. He has some cousins who went to college, but he would be the first person in his immediate family to attend.

“It’s a lot of pressure because I want to make my family proud,” he said.

This was Scott’s first year in Upward Bound. He said he enjoyed getting to make new friends through the summer program. And he also felt better prepared to navigate post-secondary education.

“I’m thankful for being here and I learned a lot about college and FAFSA (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid),” he said.