Community Connections

A Promise to City Students

The University launches a new effort aimed at helping talented students from Rochester’s public schools continue their education.

By Kathleen McGarvey

When Octavia Brooks ’09 was a student at Rochester’s Wilson Magnet High School, she admits she didn’t know much about the University.

But as she began considering her options for college, she was attracted to the University’s strong science programs, which she first encountered in a campus summer science program for high school students.

Today Brooks is one of 33 Rochester City School District graduates enrolled at the University as undergraduates.

PROMISING: Octavia Brooks ’09 and Lashonda Brenson ’10, both graduates of the Rochester City School District, say a new initiative to help talented local students will strengthen ties between the University and the city it calls home.

A new program, Rochester Promise, is intended to increase that number, helping more talented students in Rochester’s home city take advantage of higher education opportunities at the University. Beginning in September, graduates of the Rochester school district who enroll at the University stand to receive up to $100,000 over four years to cover the cost of tuition.

“I think the University is reaching out more to the community, making students more aware of the University and helping them to get here,” Brooks says.

Lashonda Brenson ’10, a mathematics and political science major who graduated from Rochester’s East High School, also thinks that Rochester Promise can make a critical difference for students.

While Brenson grew up just blocks from the University, her awareness of it as a possible place for her was “nonexistent” until teachers who were University graduates began talking to her in her junior year about attending.

The tuition assistance will be of great value to students considering their options for college, Brenson says. And beyond its financial value, Rochester Promise gives students “a vote of confidence,” she says.

“I was in the top 10 percent of my class, and a three-sport athlete, but I still lacked that confidence,” Brenson says. “I wasn’t sure whether to apply.”

The new program, she says, signals to students that the University is interested in recruiting them.

The University estimates that the Rochester Promise scholarships will be worth $1 million annually. Officials hope that at least 40 students a year who might otherwise have considered a degree from the University out of their financial reach will take advantage of the special financial aid.

Should the number of students increase beyond the current estimate, funding will be revised to ensure that every deserving student receives the $25,000 benefit.

“This initiative will make it possible for many more promising young students to aspire to the highest quality education they can achieve,” says President Joel Seligman. “Rochester Promise reinforces the University’s longstanding commitment to our city and to fostering quality education and exciting opportunities in its public schools.”

Director of Admissions Jonathan Burdick led efforts to establish the initiative.

“Students excelling in our city schools can bring a critical and valuable perspective to campus,” he says. “But for many, the financial barriers to universities like Rochester have become discouraging. I hope this pledge will make it easier for both current seniors and future graduates to become excited about the prospect of attending one of the country’s leading universities in their hometown.”

Rochester’s mayor, Robert Duffy, has applauded the effort, calling it a “tremendous investment in our young people,” one that “will open the door of opportunity for many deserving city students.”

Rochester Promise was the second University initiative announced this year aimed at supporting the college aspirations of students in Rochester’s school district. In October, the University launched two new Upward Bound programs funded by a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education that will expose as many as 100 district students to college life over four years.

Brooks says the option to attend college in her hometown was appealing. “My family’s right here, and that’s one of my big support groups; so is my church. My support center is right here.”

She says she has found strong support on campus as well, particularly in the College’s Office of Minority Student Affairs (OMSA).

“They make it feel like a family,” she says. “The OMSA office has really been a big help for me here on campus.”

Brooks is a pre-med major and hopes to attend medical school, specializing in pediatrics. Eventually, she says, she’d like to be a neonatologist.

Brenson, like Brooks, is involved in the Black Students’ Union, which helps to organize campus visits for students in the Rochester schools so they can get a taste of University life. She also is considering graduate school, with the encouragement of the University’s Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, as well as a career in teaching.

Recently Brenson went back to East High with staff from the Admissions Office to talk to students there about opportunities at the University.

She says she’s happy to see the efforts the University is now making to attract students from Rochester.

“When I was applying here, it wasn’t as strong as it is now,” she says of the effort to build ties to the city schools. “And it’s continuing to grow.”

David Andreatta contributed to this story.