This commentary is by David Stahler Jr., a writing and literature teacher at Lyndon Institute.
Vermont is making college more affordable, and that is good news. But a lower tuition bill doesn’t teach students how to apply, manage a college workload or see college as a place where they belong.
For many first-generation and low-income students, the barrier is not the price. It is the distance between the life they know and the one no one has shown them how to reach. Federally funded Upward Bound programs exist to close that distance. They give students the academic preparation, mentoring, exposure to college and practical skills they need to make the move from high school to higher education, and to see that move as a realistic option.
In Vermont, Lyndon Institute in the Northeast Kingdom runs the only Upward Bound program operated by a high school, and wrapped up its fifth summer of on-campus programming this year. Over five weeks, 24 residential students spent more than 80 hours in academic programming, including math, English, American Sign Language, college readiness and Adulting 101. They worked on planning, organization, note-taking, standardized test preparation, personal finance, banking and other practical skills.
The program also expanded its internship experience. Every student was placed with a local organization and logged around 60 hours of volunteer time. Students initially had concerns about entering unfamiliar workplaces, but many came to value the experience, and some began considering career paths they had not previously imagined.
These experiences are part of what makes Upward Bound valuable. Students aren’t simply told that college and careers are available to them. They are given opportunities to practice the habits, skills and decision-making they will need to navigate those opportunities.
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The residential experience reinforces that work. This year began with a trip to Adventure Bound in Caratunk, Maine, where students stayed in cabins without internet or cell service, completed a ropes course and went whitewater rafting on the Kennebec River. Students also visited the University of Maine at Farmington and participated in a college simulation on the school campus.
Through mentorship talks, Upward Bound alumni and residential staff shared their own experiences with college, careers, setbacks and different paths forward. As Lindsay Carpenter, director of Lyndon Institute’s Upward Bound program, put it, “No course in life is linear, and there are many paths to college.”
For the rural communities in the Northeast Kingdom, that matters. Students may have the ability to go to college but not yet see themselves there, or may not know how to get there. Upward Bound gives them the time, support and experiences to figure it out. When more students are prepared to pursue college, training and careers, the benefits reach well beyond the individual student and into the families and communities where they live.
Disclosure: VTDigger Opinion Editor Tess Stimson is married to an employee of Lyndon Institute.
