May 30, 2008 == MEDIA ADVISORY
Summary: Entrada, Calvin College's selective summer program for
high-achieving students from under-represented racial and ethnic backgrounds,
will begin June 15.
Full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/2007-08/entrada/
On Sunday, June 15, 64 students from around the nation, and beyond, will move
into the Boer-Bennink residence hall at Calvin College, their temporary summer
home as members of the 2008 class of the Entrada Scholars Program.
The students will reside at Boer-Bennink until the Entrada graduation on
Friday, July 11, 2008 at 11 a.m. in the college's Gezon Auditorium.
In between, promises associate director of pre-college programs Tasha Paul,
the scholars will learn a lot and have a lot of fun.
The core of the Entrada program is academic excellence, said Paul, and the
program is a demanding one.
"From the application process until the moment they come on campus," she said,
"we communicate that this is a scholars program and that we expect excellence
of anyone who is admitted to it."
So rigorous is the Entrada selection process that this year's 64 scholars were
selected from an applicant pool of 149.
”Entrada, Spanish for “gateway,” immerses high school juniors and
seniors of color in a total college experience.
The Entrada scholars are high-achieving students nominated for the program by
their pastors, guidance counselors, teachers and community leaders. Each
Entrada scholar receives a $4,000 scholarship to attend the program.
This year's scholars hail from Michigan, Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, South
Dakota, California, Ohio, Washington D.C., Oregon, Illinois, New York,
Missouri, Arizona, Minnesota, Colorado, Illinois, Ontario, Canada and Guam.
When not attending class and studying, the Entrada scholars do the things
normal college students do: eat in the dining hall, study in the library, work
in the computer labs and shoot hoops in the gym. And when the homework is
completed, they sing karaoke, play Frisbee golf, perform on variety night,
learn to salsa dance and enjoy an occasional outing to the beach or an
amusement park.
The Entrada staff also provides plenty of spiritual support, hosting regular
devotions and taking the scholars to churches in the community on Sunday.
The experience, Paul said, forms the scholars in ways that are hard to
quantify.
"They gain college credit, of course, but it's so much more than that," said
Paul. "They gain a sense of community. They get an idea of what higher
education is. They experience spiritual growth and a sense of what God's plan
for them might be. This experience started for them at home and we're just a
step along the path."
In the more than 20 years of its existence, the Entrada Scholars Program has
become a model for other institutions. Last year, through a $25,000 Lilly
Network Exchange grant, administrators from 13 peer institution came to Calvin
to study Entrada firsthand.
Contact Tasha Paul at 616-526-6749
-end-
Received on Fri May 30 09:51:42 2008
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