Central Wyoming College Upward Bound awarded five year grant

Central Wyoming College Upward Bound grant has been renewed for another five years. This grant will help serve 74 low-income participants in nine Fremont County high schools including Arapahoe Charter, Fort Washakie, Lander Valley, Frontier Academy, Wind River, Riverton, Shoshoni, St. Stephens and Wyoming Indian.

The $1,585,275 grant for Upward Bound is to help increase academic performance, graduation rates and post-secondary enrollment among high-risk students. Many of the target schools have high drop-out rates, low ACT scores, fewer student participants in curriculum and fewer graduates continuing to college.

Upward Bound Director Garry Trautman said ninth through 12th grade students in Fremont County who will be served by the grant in the upcoming five years will receive assistance with college preparatory activities, such as application letters to college, portfolios, academic tutoring for high school classes and ACT tutoring.

Anything to help students be successful in their high school curriculum and consider continuing their education on to a post-secondary level. ”

Garry Trautman, Upward Bound director

Students who participate throughout the year can also earn an opportunity to travel on a summer program trip to places like Laramie, Jackson, or Seattle.

“We try to give students experiences they might not get in Fremont County,” Trautman said. “This year they got to see the Space Needle in Seattle, they took the Seattle Underground Tour, and they saw a STEM research lab at the University of Wyoming. It was really a group of exceptional students. They worked hard and they earned the chance to take this trip. It helps them see what education can do for them and just how big the world is.”

Trautman said though the renewal will be for five years, he and his team are evaluated annually on measurements of the 74 students they are serving. Academic performance on standardized tests, GPA, secondary school retention, post-secondary enrollment and post-secondary school completion are just some of the parameters he is required to report annually to the grant officials. Though these parameters are not the only consideration as to whether or not the grants are awarded, they are significant factors.