CASTLETON—Students in the Castleton University Upward Bound program recently took second place at the 12th annual Green Mountain Scholars Bowl, out of 50 students and a total of 10 competing teams.
The annual event took place on Saturday, March 12, at Johnson State College, bringing together Upward Bound students from across Vermont and New York. Castleton Upward Bound competitors included Skylar Alger, Calvin Brooks, Zachary Caraballo, Kayla Purinton, and Eliza Tooley, whose win earned the program additional scholarship money.
Upward Bound is a program at Castleton that offers challenging pre-college experiences to students of high school academic ability from Fair Haven Union H.S., Mill River Union H.S., Poultney H.S., Rutland H.S. and West Rutland H.S. The goal of the program is to generate the skills and motivation necessary for success in high school and college through a six-week residential program and an academic year component.
Castleton Upward Bound, established in 2003, has served more than 200 local high school students. It is a federally funded TRiO program that serves students who are the first in their families to pursue a college education or who have a modest family income. Since its inception 75 percent of Castleton Upward Bound students have enrolled in college immediately following high school graduation, compared to just 35 percent of low-income Vermont high school graduates.
