CHESAPEAKE, VIRGINIA - (July 21,
2003) - The U. S. Department of Education notified Tidewater
Community College that it has been awarded a grant that will
amount to more than $1.1 million over the next four years to
continue the college's Upward Bound project through August 2007.
The project is a collaboration between TCC and the Chesapeake
Public School System to provide extensive college preparatory
services to promising yet economically challenged students in
each of Chesapeake's six public high schools.
"The project is a continuation of the current program that
has been in operation at TCC's Chesapeake Campus since 1995,"says
Tracy Dyson Williams, program director. "We are investing
in the future of Chesapeake by providing additional academic
instruction and tutorial
support to high school students to enhance their opportunity
to get into college and to succeed once there."
"Our Upward Bound program is a sterling example of partnership
working in the interest of the community and the people we serve.
Thus, we are especially pleased to receive continued funding
in light of the growing competition for these grants,"
says Deborah M. DiCroce, president of Tidewater Community College.
Tidewater Community College is one of 17 Virginia colleges and
universities to be awarded Upward Bound funding by the U.S.
Department of Education in Fiscal Year 2003.
During the academic
year, Upward Bound students participate in 20 Saturday sessions
at TCC for supplemental instruction, counseling, tutorials,
mentoring, college and career preparation activities, internships,
other support services, and a range of cultural events.
Participants also have the opportunity to participate in a six-week
residential summer program at Christopher Newport University
in Newport News, and graduates attend summer classes at TCC.
In addition, TCC provides college tours to help students choose
a postsecondary school.
Upward Bound serves high school students from low-income families,
high school students from families in which neither parent holds
a bachelor's degree, and low-income, first-generation military
veterans who are preparing to enter postsecondary education.
The goal of Upward Bound is to increase the rates at which participants
enroll in and graduate from
institutions of postsecondary education.
Tidewater Community College (TCC) is the second largest of the
23 community colleges in the Commonwealth of Virginia, enrolling
more than 34,000 students annually. It is the 37th largest in
the nation's 1,600 community college network and among the 50
fastest growing large
community colleges. Founded in 1968 as a part of the Virginia
Community College System, the college serves the South Hampton
Roads region with campuses in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth
and Virginia Beach, a regional Visual Arts Center in Olde Towne,
Portsmouth, the TCC Jeanne and George Roper Performing Arts
Center in the theater district in
downtown Norfolk, and a regional Advanced Technology Center
in Virginia Beach. Forty-three percent of the region's residents
attending a college or university in Virginia last fall were
enrolled at TCC.
