Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 6/10/98
      Contact:                           Carol Dotson   144

SLU'S UPWARD BOUND OFFERS "BRIDGE" TO COLLEGE 
     HAMMOND, LA --  Twenty one recent high school graduates are getting a head
start on their college careers at Southeastern Louisiana University this summer. They are
Southeastern's Upward Bound "Bridge" students. 
     The twenty-one students have participated in Southeastern's Upward Bound
program previously, spending eight weeks on campus during the summer and twenty-two
Saturdays during the school year. This summer the "bridge" students are taking up to
eight hours of college credits, with tuition, books and fees paid for by Upward Bound.
     A large majority of the group plan to attend Southeastern in the fall with two
opting for careers in the military, and two others planning to attend Florida Tech and
Delgado for majors not offered at SLU.  Angela Longstreet of Hammond has received
two scholarships for the fall and has been accepted into Southeastern's Honors program.
"I learned a lot in Upward Bound," said Longstreet. "It was a great experience and it was
really worthwhile.  In fact, the only trigonometry I learned was in Upward Bound,
because I didn't get a chance to take it in high school. Also Upward Bound helped me
increase my ACT score up two points."
     Amanda Mayo of Walker and Matt Gatlin of Loranger both plan to major in
Nursing at Southeastern this fall. "Attending Upward Bound was like a preparation for
college. It helped us get familiar with the campus and you meet so many new people,"
said Mayo. "It was a big help with my classes in high school and I'm sure it'll help me in
college," said Gatlin.


                           -more-

SLU Bridge/ADD ONE

     "This is the largest bridge class we've had so far," said Eric Penalber, associate
director of Upward Bound. "All of them don't end up attending Southeastern, but since
1990 we've had 100% of our students ultimately go on to college. We have really good
students, academically and personally. They really work hard and they're all very
determined. We're very proud of them."
     The "Bridge" students will also continue to receive support as SLU students.
"We've already introduced them to our Student Enchancement Services division staff
which is there to assist all students with tutoring, counseling and other services," said
Penalber.  
     The members of the 1998 Upward Bound Bridge class includes:   Angela
Longstreet and Latrice Severan of Hammond, Loretta McGee of Natalbany, Cathy Pierre
of Ponchatoula, Renee Cox and Tiffany Jones, Shemica Winder of Springfield, Wendy
Costanza, Laura McIntyre, of Independence, Richard Ballard III, Katherine Blount,
Chrystal Gordon, E. Russell Lala, Mikel McIntyre and Felicia Smith, of Kentwood,
Victoria Clevenger of Tangipahoa, Crinjana Dyson of Roseland, Matt Gatlin and Billy
Warren, of Loranger, Amanda Mayo and Jerry Rhodus, Jr., of Walker .


                                  -SLU-
                                    
                                    
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