Upward Bound program paves way for student to attend UNLV

Monday, July 25, 2005 | 9:32 a.m.

An 18-year-old classical cellist is planning to study music, psychology and architecture at UNLV after completing a program for under-achieving high school students in Las Vegas.

For Jeanette Turner, who played the classical piece, "The Prelude to the First Cello Suite of Bach," at Sunday night's banquet at UNLV's Moyer Student Union, her future includes more than one major.

Turner said she will be the first in her family to go to college.

"This program was great," Turner said as she completed the six-week stay on campus required in Upward Bound.

For 71 high school students such as Turner from around the Las Vegas Valley, a six-week stay at UNLV this summer in Upward Bound's intensive preparatory courses means the difference between going to college or not getting grades good enough to go to any university, said program director Bryon Richardson.

High schools invite program officials at the beginning of every school year to offer the federally-funded, year-round achievement program to underachievers and then watch as average students go to the head of their classes, Richardson said.

Debbie Nunez, who saw a pencil with the words: "UNLV Outward Bound" and asked what the program was and where she could sign up, Richardson said.

For 16-year-old Chrissy Smith, a junior at Durango High School this fall, a visit to Washington, D.C., in March focused her goal on becoming a pediatrician and attending Howard University to study medicine.

"I love it," Smith said of Upward Bound as she waited to walk down a red carpet into the student union's ballroom.

"It helped me. Without this program I wouldn't be going to college," Smith said.

Like most students who commit to attend extra classes on Saturdays during the school year and then the college experience in summer, Smith's grades were below average.

"Now it's straight A's," Smith said.

Jake Liggett, 16, is planning to study cosmetology and biology when he completes high school at Las Vegas Academy. Liggett arrived at the student union in Gothic makeup, complete with glitter on his eyelids, his hair slicked back and wearing a black tuxedo.

Sometimes entire families join Upward Bound, as the El Campo children did.

Claudia El Campo, 19, is a graduate of Upward Bound 2003. She has continued taking classes at the Community College of Southern Nevada and UNLV to become an emergency medical technician.

"It was a great program," El Campo, who was at the dinner with her 15-year-old brother, Angel El Campo, a sophomore at Rancho High School.

A friend wooed Jennifer Chevez, 18, a sophomore at UNLV majoring in hotel administration and minoring in computer science, to join the program.

"I really wasn't sure I wanted to go beyond high school," Chevez said.

Her grades were average and her friend dropped out of school. "But I stayed," Chevez said.

Today Chevez works downtown as a hostess and attends classes at UNLV. She said she has scholarships that cover university costs, except for books.

"They pushed your grades up," Chevez said of Upward Bound, which has been operating in Las Vegas since 1978.

Her 17-year-old sister, Cynthia Chevez, is a senior today at Vocational Technical Center and is in Upward Bound.

William Sullivan, associate vice president of UNLV who oversees the program at the university, said UNLV received $1.2 million in federal monies for Upward Bound this year.

"These students have worked hard this summer, these students have worked hard all year," Sullivan said.

Whether the funding will continue to serve at-risk and minority students is up to a decision by the Bush administration, which has slated Upward Bound to be axed along with Trio and GEAR UP, Sullivan said.

"We're celebrating tonight the fact they completed the program," said Upward Bound coordinator Tamara Larkin.

The federal funds will support the program through next year, Larkin said.

"It's up to President Bush to fund it," Larkin said.