Students who are residents of federal public housing were eligible to apply. Through the application process, the SHA attempted to get an idea of each student's interests and how serious they are about learning new things, says Linda Birnbaum, SHA's director of grants management. While the students learn lots of new information during their four weeks, perhaps they benefit most from the window the program opens, Birnbaum says. The program shows new opportunities and choices, and it allows the students to network with teachers, professors and community leaders. In surveys taken among students and parents to gauge their happiness with the program, Birnbaum says that parents report positive changes in behavior and heightened maturity levels.
Many students indicate an interest in attending high school and finishing college.
In addition to the Jamesville Quarry, the students visited Beaver Lake Nature Center in Baldwinsville to study bogs and Syracuse's Hancock International Airport, where they spoke to the commissioner of aviation, learned how airplanes fly, and sat in the cockpit of an actual plane. James Duah-Agyeman, director of the Office of Academic Development and College Preparation Programs in the Division of Student Support and Retention, which sponsors the program at SU, sees the program as part of the University's effort to maintain and enhance effective working relationships with the Syracuse community. Students had the opportunity to interact with some of the faculty and staff from ECS and the University at large. I hope they will begin to add 'college' and 'university' to their vocabulary.