Brown University News Bureau

The Brown University News Bureau

1995-1996 index

Distributed April 19, 1996
Contact: Tracie Sweeney

Harlem youngsters will sample what college may offer their futures

Thirty-five eighth- and eleventh-grade students from New York City will spend two days on the Brown University campus with two Brown undergraduates and a Brown alumnus who are teaching in New York. The teachers hope the campus experience will make a lasting impression and persuade the students to pursue a college degree.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Thirty-five eighth- and eleventh-graders from Harlem's Frederick Douglass Academy and Crossroads Middle School will get a look at what college could offer them when they visit the Brown University campus Wednesday, April 24, and Thursday, April 25.

Their guides are their teachers, Brown undergraduates Sonal Patel and Hector Ortiz, and Shael Polakow-Suransky, a member of Brown's Class of 1994. Patel and Ortiz, both of the Class of 1997, are apprentice teachers this semester at Douglass Academy through a program called Urban Education Semester. Polakow-Suransky teaches at Crossroads.

Patel, Ortiz and Polakow-Suransky are escorting the New York City students to Brown in the hope that their visit will make a lasting impression and persuade the youngsters to continue their education after high school.

Last spring, Polakow-Suransky brought his eighth-grade class to Brown. The youngsters met with the director of financial aid and representatives of the admission office who helped them begin thinking about the college admission process. They also sat in on a course taught by Elmo Terry-Morgan, assistant professor of African-American studies; got a backstage tour of the theater and dance studio; stayed with Brown students in their dorm rooms overnight and ate in the campus dining halls. This year's visitors are expected to follow a similar itinerary.

The trip is sponsored by Brown University's Resource Center and the Venture Consortium, with additional support from the Office of the President, Office of the Dean of the College and the College Admission Office.

The students will begin their stay at Brown with a reception Wednesday, April 24, from 1-3 p.m. in Leung Gallery, Faunce House.

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