Franky Perez can hardly contain himself.
“I’m very excited,” said the 13-year Poughkeepsie High School guidance counselor about the Poughkeepsie High School Scholarship Program, a new collaboration announced earlier this month between Vassar College and PHS. The initiative will eliminate student loans from financial aid packages awarded to PHS students accepted to Vassar, and replace those loans with Vassar scholarship funding. The program will be available to students admitted to Vassar who are graduates of PHS and have spent at least the final two years of their high school careers at the school.
“Sometimes, our kids forget about what’s in their own backyard,” said Perez. “This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to know they have a chance to attend an excellent university that’s close to home without going into debt. That’s a huge carrot I can dangle for our students that will encourage them to work hard and do better academically.”
Vassar President Catherine Hill made the announcement at a gathering of parents and students at the high school on Feb. 5.
“We are part of Poughkeepsie,” Hill said. “Our students do a variety of things in the community. We have a commitment to diversity and to recruiting locally and this program will continue to help us develop a relationship with Poughkeepsie High School.”
“This is the outgrowth of a lot of efforts that have been going on for a while in terms of our ties to the local community,” said Vassar Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid David Borus. “There have been a number of initiatives over the years involving our faculty and students. When (Hill) came in a year-and-a-half ago, one of her main objectives was to connect more with the community. She wanted to make the point that Vassar is interested in these kids as potential students. And we’re hoping that now more kids will consider Vassar as an option.”
Vassar-bound?
Perez agreed that the scholarship program has been a long time in the making.
“There’s been an ongoing relationship,” he said. “And now, this really says that this president is committed to this community and this school.
While Borus is certainly excited about the possibility of more PHS students attending Vassar, he is cautious about the immediate effects of the program.
“I don’t think it will result in a huge jump overnight,” he said. “This is just part of an attempt to say to the families (of PHS students) that we would welcome their exploration of us. Hopefully, over time, more kids will take a look at us.”
“We hope to encourage students at the high school to think about who we are and if we’re a good fit for them,” said Hill. “But I don’t think we have a firm idea of what the specific numbers will be.”
Perez said that a spike is inevitable.
“In all my years as a counselor, I’ve only dealt with a handful of students who applied to Vassar,” he said. “The admissions process has already come to a close for most students this year, but I think in the near future there will be a jump.”
Borus also added that the PHS initiative could act as a pilot program for future partnerships.
“Right now this is a program that only involves PHS,” he said. “But we’ll see what occurs down the road. This certainly doesn’t preclude possibilities for the future.”
For now, Borus said, the staffs at Vassar and PHS will continue to spread the word for a program that kicks in next fall for the college’s class of 2012. And Vassar students will continue to have a presence at PHS, a fact that Perez said benefits both the college and the high school.
“Those students that get beyond the walls of the college have a terrific experience here,” said Perez. “We’ve had students from Vassar who have decided to go into education because of the experience of working with us in our community.”