The Justice

Media Credit: Julian Agin-Liebes A product of the Academic Success Program, Genevieve Armstrong '12, stands in front of Usdan Student Center.

The program started with two. Ten years ago, Tom Urquidez and his father Thomas A. Urquidez decided they wanted to enact change within three Wichita Falls, Texas high schools by putting together the Academic Success Program.

The program is designed to boost minority students' academic performance, said Director of Operations Michael Martinez, who was a sophomore in Wichita Falls High School when the program began.

The initiative has since expanded to 15 Texas high schools, and last year over 300 program participants graduated from colleges nationwide.

This year, Brandeis collaborated with the Dallas-based ASP to create scholarships that cover all four years of tuition for five ASP students who will enter the University in fall 2009.

Dean of Admissions Gil Villanueva noted the importance of the ASP in light of the high value Brandeis places on social action.

"Social justice is an integral component of the Brandeis mission," he said. "Our commitment to attracting scholars from diverse backgrounds and our recent success in enrolling such students make us a natural partner for the Academic Success Program."

Urquidez, now 29, was a high school senior, and his father was a counselor to at-risk students when they decided to launch the program, Martinez said. "[Urquidez and his father] started very simply," he added, identifying students that "came from the under represented minority backgrounds [and] had a lot of potential but weren't living up to [it]."

Initially, the program offered students only leadership and SAT workshops.

"Throughout this process, [Urquidez and his father] started this conversation about college," among Texas high school students, Martinez said.

The concept of a college education was new to many students, Martinez said. Many from Wichita Falls High School are first-generation college students.

Urquidez, who took advantage of the program's academic resources, entered Dartmouth College in 2000. Three years later, Martinez enrolled at Princeton University.

Continued...

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