IPFW Twenty-First Century Scholars Program Celebrates Success
Thousands of students and families impacted by program’s success -
Twenty years after the State of Indiana created the Twenty-first Century Scholars Program to increase the educational aspirations of low-and moderate-income families, the Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) Twenty-first Century Scholars Office continues to prove the value of the program on young scholars’ lives.
The program, hosted by IPFW Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs since 2002, recently announced its latest successes and goals for the future. Many of these successes can be credited to the hard work of the program’s new regional coordinator, Glenda Ervins.
Under Ervin’s leadership, the following successes have been attained:
? a record high 2,851 scholars enrolled during the 2008-09 school year, which was a 68-percent increase over the previous year;
? more than 700 students and parents attended this fall’s Pledge Ceremony, which was the highest attendance at a Pledge Ceremony in the history of the region’s hosting of the program;
? more than 600 students and their parents attended annual summer programs and school kick-off programs, which was a record number of student and parent participants in their family-based programming.
Ervins, an IPFW graduate, joined the IPFW Twenty-first Century Scholars team in 2005 as a student coordinator and was promoted to regional coordinator position in fall 2008.
“Under her leadership, the program has soared to new heights and unprecedented success in the northeast Indiana region,” said Ken Christmon, IPFW associate vice chancellor for Diversity and Multicultural Affairs.
The IPFW Twenty-first Century Scholar’s Program has not only fulfilled the scholar mission, but also has advanced the IPFW Strategic Plan to improve the lives and experiences of those here in the region. The team is exploring regional partnerships to develop mentoring programs and more that will bring service to the students, helping to reduce travel for them. For example, the office will hold 15 senior affirmation sessions throughout the eight-county service area. In previous years, most of the affirmations took place here at IPFW or near campus.
But Ervins is not satisfied with setting records – she intends to lead the scholar team toward breaking their own records.
“While numbers are important,” said Ervins, “it’s equally important to effectively engage and to help students, their families, and the greater educational community by providing the best services, presentations, and by increasing student expectations.”
The scholar team, made up of Ervins, a student coordinator, a parent coordinator, and an administrative assistant, will visit nearly 70 middle schools throughout the region this year to encourage and prepare students for the goal of attending college. The team will also visit nearly 50 high schools to provide information to raise students’ expectations regarding academic performance, citizenship, and helping their families.
