Students from Alamance County high schools participating in the Elon Academy were welcomed to campus June 13 at a 10th annual College Coffee held in their honor.
This year’s Elon Academy participants were welcomed to campus Monday with a special College Coffee held around Fonville Fountain that featured ice cream, instead of coffee.
The event gave scholars a chance to mingle with each other, faculty members and Elon President Leo M. Lambert while they enjoyed a full ice cream bar on their second day on campus.
The summer residential experience gives the students, who are rising high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, a chance to experience college life.
Elon Academy, which started in 2007, is an intensive college access and success program specifically developed for local high school students with high financial need or no family history of attending college. The year-round program combines the four-week residential experience over three successive summers as well as a monthly Saturday academy during the academic year.
“The Elon Academy program helps them to position themselves so they can have access to college as well as be successful in college,” said Terry Tomasek, Elon Academy director and associate professor of education.
The scholars, who represent every high school in Alamance County, are divided into three groups. There are 25 rising sophomores in the Lambda class, 25 rising juniors in the Kappa class and 16 rising seniors in the Iota class.
The members of the Lambda class were excited to be on campus and be part of a program that will set them up for success in college. “These classes are meant to help us learn how to be successful and I hope I can get the most out of them,” said Nyjah Rollins, a Lambda scholar and rising sophomore at Western Alamance High School.
Tomasek said she hopes the scholars walk away from this experience with self-confidence and the ability to believe that they can be successful in college and in life.
Beyond the summer residential program, Elon Academy also offers the transition to college program, the college success program and the alumni program to provide encouragement and support to studentsfor as long as the Elon Academy scholar remains in college.