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INDIANA UNIVERSITY |
COMMUNICATIONS
& MARKETING |
NEWS RELEASE
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For Immediate Release |
For More Information Contact: |
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August 28, 2001 |
Diane Brown , (317) 274-7711 |
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COLLEGE SEMINAR AT IUPUI
SET TO HELP HISPANIC HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS EXPLORE HIGHER EDUCATION
OPPORTUNITIES
INDIANAPOLIS - "META" is Spanish for "goal."
In a purposeful play of words, it is also the acronym for a new Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis college awareness program for area Hispanic high school students.
The first annual Post Secondary Hispanic Education Seminar: Mapping Education Towards Achievement (META) will be held Friday, Nov. 9 on the IUPUI campus. The seminar is co-sponsored by the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI and the Indiana Department of Education.
Hispanic high school graduates are less likely to attend or graduate from college than their white or African-American counterparts, due in part to their lack of knowledge about opportunities and financial sources for pursuing a college education, seminar organizers say.
The goal of META is to change that.
"We're going to give (Hispanic)
students an opportunity to dream a bit, and the opportunity to consider the
possibility of going to college," said Westfield Middle School Principal
Ed Mendoza, keynote speaker for this year's seminar, open to high school
seniors.
Registration forms for the seminar, open
this year to the first 100 seniors who sign up, will be mailed to area high
schools by mid-September, said Enrica J. Ardemagni, coordinator of the IUPUI
Spanish program. Plans are to expand the program to juniors next year and raise
the number of seats available.
META's morning sessions will be held at the Ruth Lilly Auditorium on the lower level of University Library. Representatives for the IUPUI offices of admissions, enrollment services, financial aid and international affairs will make presentations to the students. Spanish-language interpreters will be available as needed.
During afternoon sessions at University College, Hispanic IUPUI students, faculty and alumni from various academic areas will be available to talk to students about their college experiences.
"We need to have opportunities for
Hispanic students to see people and to see leaders who have been through the
process and can show them a college education is a possibility," said
Mendoza, who at age seven immigrated with his family to the U.S. from Mexico.
State Farm Insurance is the title corporate sponsor for this year's seminar.
META participants will be encouraged to return to IUPUI with their parents on Nov. 11 to participate in Campus Day, a campus wide open house designed to introduce prospective students and parents to the IUPUI campus and its academic programs. Interpreters will be available to help parents of prospective students complete required paperwork for admissions and financial aid.
In addition to boosting college enrollment, META organizers are hopeful that the program will also reduce high school dropout rates among Hispanic students.
Educators are finding that the possibility of attending college is an incentive for Hispanic students to finish high school, Ardemagni said.
META is modeled after a program in Fort Wayne that has reportedly cut dropout rates among Hispanic students there from 18 percent to two percent.
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