Imagine your first day of college at UW-Madison. The sprawling campus, massive lecture halls and 40,000 other students may have all seemed a bit daunting. Now imagine having a group of best friends all confronting the same challenges alongside you.
This is the premise of two minority recruitment programs now featured at UW-Madison.
The Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence and Posse Foundation are both designed to create a support link for minority students as they enter college, according to Walter Lane, assistant dean of the School of Education and PEOPLE program director.
\The students know they have each other as a network of support, making their adjustment easier,"" Lane said.
The backbone of each program is creating a pipeline between UW-Madison and cities with a more diverse population, according to Lane.
PEOPLE is a unique partnership between UW-Madison and the Milwaukee Public School District. Madison middle schools are also involved in the program.
Students participate in four summer sessions on the UW-Madison campus and year-round sessions in their hometown, focusing on academics, campus orientation, classroom experience and cultural enrichment activities. Participants must be MPS students and have a grade point average of 2.75.
Upon graduation and acceptance into UW-Madison, PEOPLE students are eligible for a five-year tuition grant.
""PEOPLE was designed to enhance the number of secondary students at a post-secondary level,"" Cleveland James, associate director of admissions at UW-Madison, said. ""Milwaukee, Racine and Beloit have the largest number of students of color in the state. We must have hold of the primary market.""
The program began in 1999, and the current freshman class is the first to include PEOPLE graduates. Of the 61 students that graduated from the program, 60 went on to a higher learning institution, according to Paul Barrows, vice chancellor of student affairs at UW-Madison. Twenty-four of these students now attend UW-Madison.
Saif Syed, a UW-Madison freshman, is happy he graduated from PEOPLE.
""I did not want to sacrifice my summer, but my dad made me do it,"" he said. ""That is something I will always be thankful to him for'for making me be a part of PEOPLE.""
The Posse Foundation is a national program including high school students from New York City, Boston, Chicago and, beginning next year, Los Angeles.
Following an intensive application process, groups of 10 high school seniors are selected to participate in the program. Once a week for 36 weeks, students take part in leadership training, discussing racism, sexism and facilitation as well as what it means to be a part of Posse.
Each group of 10, or each Posse, then attends the same college together. UW-Madison's freshman class currently has two Posses, all from the Chicago area. This is the first year UW-Madison has been part of The Posse Foundation.
""Our mission is to promote cross-cultural communication and diversity,"" Kannitha Sith, a UW-Madison freshman and Posse member, said.
Sith feels that Posse helped her realize how important diversity is.
""The amount of diversity in the world is so large, I think as teenagers we take that for granted,"" Sith said. ""There are so many things to learn from others to make me a truly educated person.""
Both programs schedule group and individual meetings with students to discuss their progress and concerns about campus, according to Lane.
Syed said programs such as these are invaluable resources to students of color.
""The truth is, if it wasn't for PEOPLE, not only is it that a lot of [participants] would not be at UW-Madison, but also that a lot of us wouldn't have even decided to go to college,"" Syed said.
