96-05-17 Columbus Young Scholars Induction May 22

                          NEWS ADVISORY:
   COLUMBUS YOUNG SCHOLARS TO HONOR NEW AND GRADUATING STUDENTS

     The Columbus Young Scholars Program of The Ohio State 
University will honor its third class of college-bound graduating 
seniors Wednesday (5/22).  These 40 students from Columbus public 
schools will pass the torch to the incoming class of 20 sixth 
grade Young Scholars during a ceremony beginning at 6 p.m. at the 
Columbus Music Hall, 734 Oak St.

     The program will include remarks by Joyce Vaughn, director 
of African American Student Services at Ohio State; Lucretia 
Williams, assistant superintendent of student services, Columbus 
Public Schools; and Charles Hancock, director of the Young 
Scholars Program. Kendall Lee, program coordinator of the Young 
Scholars Program, will present awards and certificates to the 
Scholars.

     The Young Scholars Program gives first generation college-
bound Ohio minority students a college education at little or no 
cost to the students. The goal of the program is to increase the 
number of underrepresented minority students at the college level 
with particular emphasis on African American, Latino American, 
Native American, and Appalachian students.  Funding for the 
program comes from Ohio State, grants and other sources.

     In 1994, 93 Young Scholars enrolled in Ohio State and in 
1995, 180 Young Scholars entered. Students are chosen in the 
sixth grade based on a written essay, grades, and a standardized 
test by a committee of educators in their hometowns: Akron, 
Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Lorain, Toledo 
and Youngstown. After this year's new class is inducted, there 
will be some 1,615 scholars in the program.  

     The students have to maintain a 3.0 grade point average and 
take college preparatory classes in high school to remain 
eligible for the program.  Middle schoolers take math classes on 
Saturday mornings, and high school students attend two-hour 
tutoring sessions twice weekly after school.  The students also 
attend annual summer institutes on the Ohio State campus, where 
they live in the dormitories and attend classes.

                              #
Contact: Shaletha Mitchell, Columbus program coordinator, (614) 
292-4884.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Fri, 17 May 1996 09:59:41 -0400]
All documents are the responsibility of their originator.