Tusculum College Upward Bound Program Receives $200,000 to Serve Students in Cocke and Hawkins Counties

The Tusculum College Upward Bound program was recently notified by Tennessee Congressmen Bill Jenkins and Harold Ford Jr. that it will receive a new grant of $200,000 to serve students in Cocke County and Hawkins County.

Approximately 69 percent of students in Cocke County and 44 percent of students in Hawkins County are available for the program, said Tusculum College TRIO Programs Director Jeanne Stokes.

Stokes said she submitted a grant to the U.S. Department of Education earlier this year when she realized that lower-income students in these counties were potentially underserved. "We recognized that these students could really benefit from Upward Bound," she said.

Stokes said guidance counselors, teachers, and the school superintende nt’s offices in both Hawkins and Cocke counties were very supportive of the plan.

Students from Cocke County, Cosby, Cherokee and Volunteer High Schools will be bused from their counties to the Tusculum College campus to participate in the program, which already serves Greene, Unicoi, Washington and Hamblen counties.

The money will be used completely for the admission of new students to the program, rather than for other changes. "When we wrote the grant we envisioned modeling it on the existing Upward Bound program," Stokes said. "It’s a top-quality program, and there’s no real reason to modify it."

The grant represents "a wonderful opportunity to be able to reach out to more students," she said. In addition, the program also received renewal of its yearly $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Upward Bound is an intensive college preparatory program. Its mission, to aid low-income students and students who are first-generation college attendees, has helped many to succeed in high school while also preparing for college.