INDIANAPOLIS, IN (July 2013) — During the months of June and July, IUPUI’s University College is hosting eighty-two students participating in the Upward Bound summer program. Although the Upward Bound program at IUPUI is offered year-round to qualifying ninth and tenth grade students intending to enter postsecondary education after high school, the summer program consists of two main components: the Summer Academy and the Summer Pre-Professional Internship.
Students participating in the Summer Academy stay on IUPUI’s campus for six weeks taking academic classes in math, science, English, and foreign language that will prepare them for their high school classes in the fall. The students visit Indiana college campuses such as IU Bloomington, Purdue, Ball State University, and Indiana State University. At the end of the program, qualified students take a five-day trip to Washington, DC where they will also visit George Washington University and Howard University.
A developing component of the Upward Bound program is the Summer Pre-Professional Internship. This summer, eleven rising seniors in the Summer Academy program were selected for four-week internship positions in schools across campus such as the School of Dentistry, School of Social Justice, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, School of Liberal Arts, and four University College offices: Office of Career Planning; Office of Student Employment; Office of Development, Operations, and Employee Relations; and Academic Advising. Interested students were required to apply and go through an interview process with their potential employers. Internship selections were based on compatibility between the students and the work they would be doing.
According to Upward Bound program director Roxanne Gregg and assistant director Yecenia Tostado, the internship benefits both the intern and the department that hosts them. The departments get much needed extra help, and the students get a taste of a professional work environment and the opportunities that various professions offer.
For more information, contact Harriett Bennett at 317-274-5036 or email hbennett@iupui.edu.