Champlain College Hosts College Prep Program For Underserved Area High School Students

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High school students will say at Champlain College for six nights during Imagine College.

BURLINGTON, VT (06/28/2012)(readMedia)-- Champlain College will welcome 25 high school students from Vermont, Massachusetts and New York to campus July 6-11 for "Imagine College," a six-day summer immersion program designed to help students make college a part of their reality and give them tools to navigate the college process.

Imagine College is a pilot outreach program created in order to meet goals that emerged from the Champlain College Summit last year which focused around lifelong engagement, Champlain's 2020 Diversity and Inclusion goals and the needs of the state identified through bodies like the Vermont P-16 Council. Of the students who applied and were accepted into the program, 16 are from the greater-Burlington area and nine are from New York and Boston.

The program is offered at no cost to all participants thanks to funding from the Hendrickson Family Foundation, Jim and Andrea Crook, and Elizabeth Steele. It is also supported through the Champlain College Advancement and Admission offices, and the Champlain Conference and Events Center.

"We believe students will benefit from the additional support to develop and strengthen their vision for attending college and help them navigate the often complicated college-entry process," said Ame Lambert, Imagine College program facilitator and director of Champlain's Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI).

"Champlain College has a long commitment to access and success, driven by President David Finney. This initiative is one more way Champlain is fulfilling its mandate/commitment to be 'in and of Vermont,'" Lambert noted.

Students will explore various areas of study including game programming, art and animation, health sciences, digital forensics, and writing, instructed by Champlain College faculty. The students will also explore career options, the college admissions process and learn about other programs on campus. Imagine College also includes team-building activities for students such as hiking Mt. Philo, identity and leadership development and lots of fun such as performing in a talent show, and going bowling.

The program wraps up with a commencement dinner on July 11. "If the program proves to be a viable option that is beneficial to all parties involved, we would explore making it a long-term part of our institutional initiatives," said Lambert.

About the Champlain College Office of Diversity and Inclusion: The Office of Diversity and Inclusion helps Champlain's increasingly diverse community to engage in educational, social and inclusive practices with the goal of helping all members of the community to have a positive experience and to foster successful outcomes.

About Champlain College: Since 1878, Champlain College has provided career-focused education to students from its hilltop campus in Burlington, Vt. Champlain's distinctive educational approach embodies the notion that true learning only occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain offers traditional undergraduate and online undergraduate courses, along with online certificate and degree programs and eight master's degree programs. Champlain offers study abroad programs at its campuses in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's "The Best 376 Colleges: 2012 Edition." Champlain was named a "Top-Up-and-Coming School" by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges and is ranked in the top tier of 2012 Regional Colleges in the North. For more information, visit www.champlain.edu.

By Kayla Hedman '14 / Champlain College News