Posted on Jul 17, 2002

“Using TV to Develop Literacy”
A Ready to Learn Workshop
Presented by WMHT, PBS Kids, and Union College

Date: Wednesday, July 24

Time: 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Place: Kenney Community Center

RSVP: 388-6609 ask for Carrie

Description: Literacy is more than words and sentences, it's how someone participates in the exchange of information, ideas, and feelings. Learn how to “read” TV and other media. Discuss ways families can use TV and develop literacy skills at home. Participants receive a packet of TV tips and ideas, children's program handouts, and free child's book.
This is a free program for Parents of kids ages 3-6.
Bring a lunch, dessert will be provided.

Posted on Jul 16, 2002

Schenectady, N.Y. – About 80 minority high school students from the Capital Region will get a taste of life at “Camp College” this weekend at Union College.

“There are so many minority and underprivileged students in Capital Region who simply don't think of college as an option,” said Kelly Herrington, associate dean of admissions at Union and organizer of the camp. “If we get at least a few of these students to think about college it will be worth it.”

Students arrive Friday afternoon (July 19) and stay through Sunday afternoon for a weekend that includes sessions with professors and college admissions counselors; simulated classes in African art, engineering, religion, and history; stargazing in the College's observatory; and demonstrations by the Hamilton Hill Drum Troupe.

The 80 students in grades 9 through 11 are divided between 14 schools in the Schenectady, Albany, and Troy communities. One hundred percent of these students are either of color or will be the first person in their family to attend college. On their nomination forms campers have listed their career goals as ranging from becoming geriatric neurosurgeons to owning car dealerships. The 28 mentors represent colleges and high schools from Long Island to Buffalo.

The weekend was made possible in part by grants from the New York State Association for College Admission Counseling. Herrington works closely with a number of community service organizations, from the Newburgh Community Action Committee to the Urban Scholars Foundation, to recruit and transport campers. “I felt it was important to use these community organizations to identify candidates for this camp,” Herrington said. “Often it is the minister, mentor or social worker who best knows the students we should be reaching.”

For more information, go to http://www.union.edu/Admissions/Events/CampCollege/ or call Kelly Herrington at 388-6585 (where he can be reached throughout the weekend).

Posted on Jul 12, 2002

Schenectady, N.Y. – Each summer Union College sponsors a Summer Science Workshop for high school students from minorities who are underrepresented in the health professions and biological sciences – giving them exposure to college-level classroom and laboratory study, and career guidance for fields in health professions and scientific research.

Besides exposing nearly two dozen budding scientists to college-level work each summer, the program also has been something of a boon to the College's minority recruitment effort. Since it's inception in 1996, nineteen students from the program have enrolled as students at Union; perhaps not surprisingly, several of those have gone on to become counselors for the very program that brought them to Union. In fact this year, three of the four counselors are former participants.

“We used to soft sell the students on Union,” says program coordinator Karen Williams of the first few years of the workshop. “Now we take them down to the admissions office for interviews and invite them to a reunion in the fall. One student from SSW '96 has just completed his first year at the New England College of Optometry, and two of the current Union students are in the eight-year Leadership in Medicine Program.”

This two-week residential summer enrichment program has HIV/AIDS as its overarching theme. The students will research the scientific, social and political aspects of AIDS, and they will give presentations on a variety of topics related to the epidemic at the end of the program on Friday, July 19.

Beyond classes and labs in immunology, computer technology and cellular biology, the students attend lectures at Albany Medical College Martha Lepow, M.D. and her team of physicians, nurses and social workers who care for the pediatric AIDS population. Also at AMC the students are introduced to the medical school admissions process by both the Dean of Admissions and medical students Additionally, this year students will attend presentations by an HIV positive male, as well as a mother of adopted HIV positive children; and field trips to the New York State Department of Health Axelrod Institute, and the Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch (a camp for chronically ill children). The goal of the program is to expose the students to a wide variety of science-based careers.

Professor Williams is joined by colleagues Peter Tobiessen, director; Twitty Styles, who teaches immunology; James Hedrick, who teaches computer technology; and Quynh Chu-LaGraff, who teaches cell and molecular biology as well as two local high school teachers and four counselors.

Just as striking as the educational component of the program is the strong bonds the students develop in only two weeks. “Many participants have a very hard time saying goodbye,” Williams said.

This year's class is a mix of students from both inner-city environments and rural towns, three are from the Capital District, eleven from New York City, five of the students are from Minnesota, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Mexico, and one from Barbados.

The Summer Science Workshop was supported by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for the first three years of its existence. It is now completely funded by the College.

For more information, contact Karen Williams at 388-6062 or williamk@union.edu. The best opportunity for photographs and video will take place on Friday, June 19 from 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Posted on Jul 11, 2002

So, how important is the SAT?

Dan Lundquist, vice president for admissions at Union,
answered that and other questions in a radio show on the college admissions
process that is airing nationally on public radio stations.

Lundquist was interviewed for “The Best of Our Knowledge,” a
national production from WAMC in Albany. The show goes to about 150 stations.

The 30-minute show can be heard at www.wamc.org . (Click on “The Best of Our
Knowledge.”)

“The SAT probably means less in the admissions process than
students and their families think, but more than most colleges admit,”
Lundquist said on the show.

While the SAT may be useful as a “touchstone,” students
should keep in mind that most colleges put more weight into factors such as
grades, course selection, academic progress and extracurricular involvement,
Lundquist said.

“Students should put their best foot forward, but it might
be a waste of time to over-psych (the SAT). The most important piece is
in-class performance.

As for when to start searching for a college, Lundquist
advised not starting before the junior year. “If we get people thinking about
college too early, they may move over some of the important intermediary
steps,” he said. “We want them to be thinking about college when they have time
to maneuver, but not to become obsessed about it.”

Lundquist was joined on the show by two college counselors
and Brian Selchick, an Albany Academy graduate who will be attending Union this
fall.

Posted on Jul 8, 2002

The College this summer hosted 360 girls at Empire Girls State, a program aimed at educating high school-aged girls on Americanism, citizenship and government. The program was sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary. The girls, all high school juniors from across New York State, set up a mythical 51st state and elected county and state officials, judges, legislators and a governor. They were organized into two parties (Nationalist and Federalist), introduced and debated bills, and carried out duties of the office to which they were elected or appointed.