FEDERAL PROGRAMS HELP BOOTHEEL STUDENTS MAKE WAY TO COLLEGE

Harry Schuler's high school counselor never encouraged him to go to college.

Schuler grew up poor and black in southern Arkansas. The youngest of nine children, Schuler attended a predominately white high school and served as class president.

"It is ironic that my high school counselor never talked to me about going to college," Schuler said.

Schuler, however, went to college and today encourages Missouri Bootheel residents to go to college.

As director of Student Educational Opportunity Programs at Southeast Missouri State University, Schuler oversees the Trio programs.

The programs were established by Congress to help low-income and first-generation college students enter and graduate from college.

Southeast has been involved in the Trio programs since 1990.

The school currently receives $636,000 a year in federal Trio funds.

Most of the money goes for personnel costs, including travel expenses. The school operates the programs with a staff of 15, including Schuler.

School officials Thursday touted the local success of the federal programs at a Trio Day Celebration at the University Center honoring the 30th anniversary of the programs.

Southeast President Kala Stroup said such programs are needed in the Missouri Bootheel, a region where many people are poor and don't attend college.

Poverty and the educational level in the Missouri Bootheel approach that of some Third World countries, Stroup said.

Trio programs currently serve nearly 700,000 Americans. More than 1,200 colleges and agencies offer Trio programs, which are funded through competitive grants.

Originally, there were three programs under the Trio umbrella. Today, there are seven.

Southeast is involved in the main three: Talent Search, Project Upward Bound and Student Support Services. The school is working to secure funding for two more of the programs, including one that would encourage students to go on to graduate school.

Talent Search assists disadvantaged people, ages 12 to 27, who have academic potential for postsecondary education.

Southeast's program focuses primarily on students in grades 7 through 12 and will soon be expanded to the sixth-grade level, Schuler said. Last year, 1,322 people participated in the program.

Project Upward Bound works with high school students, encouraging them to finish high school and attend college.

Fifty-nine students were involved in the program last year, including 10 high school seniors. Seven of them attend college.

Students spend every other weekend at Southeast and six weeks in the summer.

Student Support Services assists low-income and first-generation college students and those students with disabilities. The program focuses on helping these students graduate by providing everything from moral support to tutoring.

Last year, 204 students were helped by the program.

One of those was Derek Hudson, who graduated in May. Today, he works as an admissions counselor for Southeast.

As a first-generation college student, Hudson credited the program with keeping him focused on his studies.

"They are very assertive, if not aggressive," he said of the support services staff. "I often got calls in my apartment, calls at my job."