Youths Get Excited About College
By Rosalie Westenskow Deseret Morning News
PROVO — More than 1,200 fifth- and sixth-grade students crowd the concert hall, screaming and waving their arms as they cheer on a group of break dancers. This unlikely envoy represents what is, for most of these children, a completely foreign world: college.
Brigham Young University hosted youngsters from elementary schools throughout Utah Valley Friday during the fifth annual Project Youth event.
Student volunteers took the children on tours around campus then ended the morning with a rally at the de Jong Concert Hall.
Coordinators of Project Youth — organized by BYU’s Center for Service and Learning — said they hope to inspire the children to attend college.
“We hope to instill in these kids a desire and a realization that a higher education is possible,” said Drew Sellers, program director.
Fifth- and sixth-graders are invited, Sellers said, because they are still impressionable but old enough to understand the experience.
Only students from Title I elementary schools attend. Those schools have a large percentage of low-income students.
Sellers said the folks who run the program hope to teach the students about possibilities for their futures.
Several of the teachers who brought students to the event said they’re impressed with the program.
“I think it’s really great,” said Julie Tracy, a fifth-grade teacher at Wilson Elementary in Payson. “A lot of (the students) come from homes where nobody went to college, or their parents are in prison. I think it helps the kids to see maybe there is something out there for them.”
The students seemed overwhelmed by the size of BYU’s campus, and some said they thought they’d get lost if they attended the university.
“I never imagined it this big,” said fifth-grader Gabriel Mosey after touring only one building.
A stop at the bowling alley in the basement of the Wilkinson Student Center yielded wide eyes and a collective gasp of delight from the students.
“I want to go to BYU right now — seriously!” Mosey told his classmates from Rees Elementary in Spanish Fork. However, the school may not offer training for his dream job: motorcycle racing.
Several of the students said the bookstore looked like a mall and one fifth-grader asked if the store sold skateboards.
About 200 BYU student volunteers led the children around campus in groups of 12 to 15, sharing fun and interesting facts with their young charges.
A favorite was the number of books contained in the Harold B. Lee Library (7 million) and the distance the bookshelves would span if lined up end-to-end in a straight line (97 miles).
Volunteer Emily Lonas said she remembers a time when she didn’t want to go to college but has since learned college can be fun.
“I want these kids to realize it’s not going to be boring,” said Lona, a freshman studying psychology. “They can study what they want.”
Students attended short lectures from professors, then packed into the de Jong concert hall for a high-energy, culminating event.
In addition to a performance by BYU’s break-dancing club, three speakers addressed the rambunctious crowd, encouraging them to stay in school.
“Graduating from high school and going to college will determine how you live for the next 50 years,” said Vernon Heperi, dean of students at BYU. “I challenge you to decide today that you will remain in school and try your very best.”
E-mail: rwestenskow@desnews.com
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