| NSF's Center for Structured
Organic Particulate Systems (C-SOPS), headquartered at Rutgers University,
participated in supporting the Rutgers Future Scholars Program, which provides
a new kind of support system for academically promising students who dream
of going to college. In the summer of 2008, a select group of 200
students entering the eighth grade from Rutgers’ home communities of Camden,
Newark, New Brunswick, and Piscataway, New Jersey, took part in academic
enrichment activities on Rutgers campuses. Highly recommended by their
teachers and school administrators, Future Scholars exhibit academic potential
as well as financial need. The multi-year program, which incorporates
residential experiences in the summers, weekend seminars throughout the
school year for students and their parents, and college admissions test
preparation, will provide opportunities for educational growth and enrichment
and expose the students to career paths they may not have thought were
available to them.
The program allows for tracking
participating students through their middle and high school careers and
beyond, should they choose to attend Rutgers University. To ease
the financial burden of higher education, Rutgers promises to cover four
years of tuition and fees for Future Scholars who meet admission requirements
and choose to attend the university. Future Scholars accepted to
the university each will be first-generation college students, a population
that Rutgers has a long history of serving. C-SOPS will work with
Future Scholars to help ensure that these students achieve their goals.
The Center will also assist in supporting parents of Future Scholars by
taking the lead in developing a Parent Learning Community (PLC) during
the summer of 2009. |
