Twenty-six students from Alamance County high schools have been selected to make up the inaugural class of the Elon Academy, a college access program sponsored by Elon University. Details...
The rising sophomores, their families and Alamance-Burlington School System representatives will gather at 8:30 a.m, April 28, in Elon’s Whitley Auditorium for orientation. They will meet with academy faculty members and Elon student mentors, and tour the facilities they will use this summer. An opening ceremony will be held on June 17, and classes will begin on June 18.
“This is a special group of students,” says Deborah Long, one of the academy’s leaders and a faculty administrative fellow and assistant to the president of Elon. “They are talented, enthusiastic and eager to challenge themselves. They are very excited about this opportunity and anxious to get started with the program.”
The Elon Academy is an enrichment program for academically talented students in the Alamance-Burlington School System who have financial need or have no family history of college attendance. The year-round program will combine three intensive four-week summer residential experiences at Elon with a variety of academic and enrichment activities throughout the school year.
More than 100 students from Cummings, Eastern Alamance, Graham, Southern Alamance, Western Alamance and Williams high schools applied for enrollment in this year’s academy. The 26 who were selected demonstrate strong academic promise, a desire to succeed and a commitment to serving others.
Modeled after similar programs at Princeton, Furman and Vanderbilt universities, the Elon Academy will include academic programs in math, English, social studies, science and technology. Students will also take classes in college planning, leadership development, athletics and the arts. The goal is to inspire and empower students to attend four-year colleges or universities, and go on to assume leadership roles in their communities.
Each summer, approximately 25 rising sophomores will be admitted to the academy. These students will continue with the program until their high school graduation. By the third year of the program, about 70 students will be enrolled. All students will be enrolled at no cost.
The program’s leadership team is made up of Long; Rich Mihans, assistant director of academic programs; Darris Means, assistant director of student life and leadership development; Kim Johnson, assistant director of college planning; Robyn Hadley, executive director of the “What’s After High School Initiative” and Alamance-Burlington School System liaison; and Laura Beitman, program assistant. Several Elon students and faculty members, along with other educators in the area, will mentor students and teach classes in the program.
The charter class of the Elon Academy includes the following students:
Cummings High School:
Sentrell Allen
Frank Garcia
Shelby Oldham
Ana Velesaca
Gabrielle White
Eastern Alamance High School:
Kyle Johnson
Evette Massey
Riana McCollum
Jaron Torain
Graham High School:
Jessica Eller
Destinee Lewis
Cristian Munos
Hillory Ratliff
Southern Alamance High School:
Taylor Burns
India Comer
Josh Fogelman
Jeffrey King
Nick Offenheiser
Scott Simmons
Western Alamance High School:
Darian Jackson
Williams High School:
Brittney Burnette
Stacey Crutchfield
Chris Glockson
Constanza Johnson
Taylor Laws
Sarah Rawls