UC Irvine conducts outreach efforts to help youth achieve academic success. The following are outreach programs being held this summer.


Parents "Sleep Over"-and Learn About University Life Firsthand

In two sessions this summer-July 19 to 21 and Aug. 2 to 4-parents who have never attended college have the opportunity to experience university life firsthand, as UCI kicks off its fourth year of the Parent Residential Experience Program. Fifty-six parents of kindergarten through 12th-grade students from schools in Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Long Beach, Paramount, Compton, Santa Ana, Downey, Wilmington, Lynwood, Westminster, Garden Grove, Carson and Buena Park will spend a weekend living in campus dorms and learning how to assist their children in preparing for entrance to the University of California. The weekend sessions are funded by the Early Academic Outreach Program and will cover the practical-financial aid, testing, Internet college and scholarship searches, and the application process-as well as topics that focus on enhancing a child's creative writing and thinking skills. For more information, click here or contact Marta Ornelas at (949) 824-5705, mornelas@uci.edu


Movin' On Up: Students Enrich Their Lives During Month-Long Visit to Campus

Upward Bound, a federally funded outreach program founded in 1965, aims to prepare and encourage the country's low-income and future first-generation college students to pursue higher education. Fourteen in-coming ninth- to 11th grade students from Anaheim, Katella and Loara high schools will be admitted to the program at UCI, which culminates at the end of their senior year. At any given time, UCI supports 50 students in this curriculum, which provides academic tutoring, advising and exposure to the campus throughout the year. Efforts continue through the summer, from July 7 to Aug. 3, with a four- to six-week residential program in which the teens experience dorm life and participate in enrichment classes-in areas such as math, English/writing, Powerpoint skills, forensic science and Web page design, among others-designed to prepare them for the academic year. In their junior year, a four-day "spring break college tour" road trip, starting at UCI and ending at UC Davis, acquaints the students with six college campuses. Other special assignments and field trips introduce the adolescents to often "new" experiences, such as trips to the beach and to the theater to see plays and musicals. All Upward Bound participants are tracked for four years after high school graduation, as part of the federal grant requirement. Contact: Senele Gonzalez, (949) 824-5741, srgonzal@uci.edu
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Local Eighth-Graders "GEAR UP" for Math, English

This year, 47 eighth-grade students were accepted to the Gain Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (G.E.A.R. U.P.), designed to assist adolescents in making the transition from middle school to high school smoother-and help them stay on the path toward becoming competitively eligible UC applicants. From June 23 to 30, an intense residential program awaits the students from Santa Ana's Carr Intermediate and McFadden Intermediate schools, which is intended to introduce them to algebra or geometry and freshmen English composition. Students also engage in group activities that stress the importance of diversity; a field trip to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles will underscore the importance of cultural sensitivity and acceptance. Along with academics, the world of higher education is explored through presentations on university readiness, campus resources, academic majors and career options.
Contact: Cecilia Ballardo, (949) 824-3647, cballard@uci.edu


College of Medicine Offers Work Experience, Career Inspiration

The College of Medicine's Summer Outreach Program offers 20 top healthcare-track high school students from Santa Ana Unified School District six weeks of work experience in the field of medicine, from June 24 to Aug. 2. Chosen by their teachers, the teens are guided by physicians, nurses, administrators and technicians who serve as mentors, in areas such as emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, pediatrics, anesthesiology and clinical work. Students will receive an hourly stipend while observing and participating in the healthcare team process at UCI Medical Center in Orange and UCI Family Health Center in Santa Ana. During the program, students glean advice, information and inspiration through seminars held by medical students, college admissions counselors and healthcare professionals who are making a difference in underserved communities. An awards dinner will be held on Aug. 2, and students will have an opportunity to invite their families to attend. This program began in 1998 and is funded by UC's Office of the President.
Contact: Peggy Harvey-Lee, (949) 824-4618, pharveyl@uci.edu.


Top Teens Reach for the Stars at COSMOS

California's next generation of scientists, engineers and mathematicians will participate in the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS), an intensive, interactive academic experience led by distinguished professors, researchers and scholars at UCI. COSMOS is a month-long residential program, held from July 14 to Aug. 10, for top students who are enrolled in grades nine to 12. The 156 students participating at UCI, including 20 from Orange County, were selected for distinction in the sciences or mathematics. Courses address topics not traditionally taught in high schools, such as aerospace engineering, astrophysics, computer games, California ecosystems, Earth system science, robotics, neuroscience and more. Students also will take advantage of on-campus resources such as UCI faculty laboratories and make field trips to local sites, including the Palomar Observatory, San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The state of California provides annual funding for the academies, which also include sites at UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz. COSMOS opened its doors to the first group of 304 academically advanced high school students in the summer of 2000; this year the statewide program received more than 600 applications and accepted upwards of 400 students. For more information, visit www.cosmos.uci.edu
Contact: Melina Duarte, (949) 824-6806, myduarte@uci.edu


Summer Residential College Provides Jumpstart for Geometry

The Summer Residential College (SRC) geometry program, held from June 23 to 30, is designed to help current eighth- and ninth-grade students become competitively eligible UC applicants. Participating students hail from Los Angeles County and Orange County high schools that UC has identified as underrepresented in its university system. Eighty selected students from the cities of Norwalk, Long Beach, Compton, Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Paramount, Garden Grove, Fullerton and Orange-from a pool of 233 applicants-will participate in an intense one-week introduction to geometry. The program's aim is to provide a jumpstart on the subject for their fall geometry course. In addition, the students will explore the world of higher education through presentations on university readiness, campus resources, academic majors and career options. SRC has helped students prepare to master geometry for more than 12 years and is funded by UC's Early Academic Outreach Program.
Contact: Tony Hwang, (949) 824-1848, ckent@uci.edu.


HABLA Helps Tots Increase School Readiness

Home-based Activities Building Language Acquisition (HABLA), a two-year preschool "intervention" program, serves 2- to 4-year-olds of Latino families with low educational and income levels in Santa Ana. Created by professor Virginia Mann of UCI's School of Social Sciences with the support of the Orange County Children and Families Commission, HABLA uses trained UCI staff, university students and community members to serve as bi-weekly work-study home visitors. They use carefully chosen toys and books to model and "coach" parenting techniques that will increase verbal interaction and promote the child's learning and expressive language. HABLA not only engages students, families and the university in achieving a goal of increased elementary school readiness, it also promotes college matriculation, community service and enhances college students' knowledge of career opportunities.
Contact: Virginia Mann, (949) 824-6680, vmann@uci.edu.

For more information on the programs, please click here.