Tusculum College welcomed Congressman Phil Roe to campus on Tuesday, June 28. Roe visited the campus to learn more about the college preparation programs offered by Tusculum College through the TRIO program and had a chance to hear some personal success stories.
TRIO includes three federally funded programs, Talent Search, Upward Bound and Student Support Services. These programs serve regional students who are from low-income backgrounds and if they attend college, will be first-generation college students.
While on campus, Congressman Roe visited Upward Bound students from across the region, encouraging them to stick with their education and continue on to higher education.
Dr. Roe represents Tennessee’s First District and currently serves on the federal Education and Labor Committee. He expressed a great deal of interest in programs that encourage young people to continue their education after high school. He shared his own educational experiences as well.
Dr. Roe met with students currently in the Upward Bound program and with several of those who had completed the program. Courtney Morgan is working this summer as a resident assistant in the program that she credits with changing the direction of her life.
A first generation college student now with an associate degree from Walters State Community College and working on her social work degree at East Tennessee State University, Morgan explained to Congressman Roe why the Upward Bound program had meant so much to her.
“I didn’t see myself as someone who would go to college. No one in my family had ever gone to college. Upward Bound showed me that I need something like this in my life and it prepared me,” she said, adding that her academic performance has improved over what it was in her high school years.
Dr. Roe also met with the Chris Burns, who graduated from Tusculum College in 2014 and is currently working on a master’s degree in counseling at Carson-Newman University. Burns explained how the Student Support Services program made a difference in his life.
“Student Support Services opened the doors to a lot of opportunities,” said Burns, adding that coming from an economically-challenged background, being able to borrow textbooks and have access to travel program helped him stay in school. He said it also introduced him to a group of students who had similar experiences as goals.
“It helped me by taking away the stress of how I was going to pay for things like textbooks, but it also helped me socially and that mattered when things got rough.” He added that the program introduced him to the idea of additional education after his bachelor’s degree.
“They really encouraged all of us to think about continuing our education,” he said. Through the program, he was able to make campus visits to several schools offering graduate programs before deciding to attend Carson-Newman.
Of the three programs, Talent Search begins the earliest, with students entering the program in the sixth grade.
“We begin monitoring the courses that they take, working with students on attainable goal setting and taking them on college visits,” said Jeanne Stokes, director of TRIO programs.
Upward Bound, which serves high school students and is currently in summer session on the Greeneville campus, brings the students to the college to learn and experience life on a college campus. Students take courses and live on campus. They learn to deal with roommates and experience eating in the cafeteria.
“Our programs are very much set up like a college program,” said Stokes. “We offer courses for them to choose from, including “Creative Writing,” “Forensic Science,” “Navigating Math” and “Photography.”
The third of the TRIO programs is Student Support Services and provides a wide array of academic support services to at-risk students once they are enrolled as a Tusculum College student. Services include tutoring and counseling, among other services.
Congressman Phil Roe visited students in the Upward Bound program at Tusculum College, hearing personal success stories from students who benefited from programs offered through Tusculum’s TRIO program. From left are Dr. Ron May, vice president for Academic Affairs, Congressman Roe, Jeanne Stokes, director of the TRIO program, and Courtney Morgan, graduate of the Upward Bound program.