WKU News

High school students in the WKU Upward Bound program participated in a Saturday session earlier this month.

WKU Upward Bound has been awarded a five-year grant totaling $2.1 million from the U.S. Department of Education to continue serving first-generation and/or low-income students in five area counties.

WKU received its first Upward Bound grant in 1983 and has served about 3,000 students in the past four decades.

Upward Bound, one of six federally funded TRIO Programs at WKU, serves 86 students from six southcentral Kentucky high schools: Allen County-Scottsville, Butler County, Edmonson County, Hart County, Logan County and Russellville.

“I am so excited that the WKU Upward Bound Project will continue its greatness in assisting students with college access and success,” said Dr. Martha Sales, Executive Director of TRiO Programs. “TRIO works and WKU TRIO rocks!”

The goal of Upward Bound is to increase the rate at which participants complete secondary education and enroll in and graduate from institutions of postsecondary education. The 12-month program provides assistance with high school course selection, study skills, ACT preparation, college and career information, college selection, and financial aid application.

Cameron Carr-Calvert, Director of WKU Upward Bound, said staff visit each high school three times per month throughout the school year to meet with students. Programs are presented once a month on Saturdays from September through May on WKU’s campus. Students attend a six-week residential program each summer which focuses on academics and provides cultural and social enrichment opportunities.

“Upward Bound has helped me accomplish so many goals,” said Promise Willhite, a graduate of Logan County High School and The Gatton Academy Class of 2022 who will continue her studies at WKU this fall. “At first it was simply to open up and make new friends and experience new things, but I have been pushed to accomplish that and so much more.”

For more about WKU Upward Bound, visit https://www.wku.edu/upwardbound/index.php

Contact: Cameron Carr-Calvert, (270) 745-4873

-WKU-

Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, WKU helps students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.