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College Admittance Program Aimed at 8th Graders Continues to Grow

students chemistry

More than 300 area 8th graders visited SUNY Plattsburgh for the spring installment of the I’ve Been Admitted to College program March 22 and 29 and April 5.

Launched in fall 2021, the innovative program is designed to inspire North Country middle school students to see themselves as future SUNY Plattsburgh freshmen. The pilot program began with fewer than 50 8th graders coming to campus for a day of activities facilitated by faculty and staff.

The day culminated with a ceremony in which President Alexander Enyedi hands each participant a certificate that says they’re admitted to SUNY Plattsburgh. The proviso is that between 8th grade and senior year in high school the students fulfill requirements in accordance with the Office of Admissions.

ewa paterAs the program grew with more students attending each semester, activities were added by more faculty and staff, and IBAC is now bringing in more than 100 students each of three days a semester.

Among the dozens of faculty and staff who helped facilitate programs for students from Beekmantown, Brushton-Moira, Northeastern Clinton Central, Peru, Saranac and Ticonderoga schools this spring were:

  • Julia Devine, assistant professor in theater, who led groups in theater exercises
  • Dr. Katy Dunham, associate professor and chair of psychology
  • Dr. Zakir Gul, associate professor and chair, criminal justice, and Pat Rascoe, chief of University Police, who led a forensics and criminal justice activity
  • Dr. Justin Lowry, assistant professor, who led a presentation in anthropology
  • Dr. Ewa Pater and Dr. Craig Hoag, associate professors in chemistry, who led a variety of chemistry experiments in a Hudson Hall lab

therapy dogsIn addition, Feinberg Library Director Elin O’Hara and Plattsburgh State Art Museum Director Tonya Cribb facilitated scavenger hunts in Feinberg and the Rockwell Kent Gallery, respectively, while therapy dogs met students in the Feinberg second-floor lobby.

Sarah Hackett, lecturer in teacher education, and her master’s in student teaching students then led 8th graders through activities following lunch in the Angell College Center.

As with the first IBAC day in November 2021, students were handed certificates that assure their admittance to SUNY Plattsburgh as freshmen, along with the message that they’re worthy of a college education.

According to Andrea Enyedi, SUNY associate who spearheads the program, the IBAC plan is a simple one: Give 8th graders who don’t think that college is in their futures reason to believe that it is, and that SUNY Plattsburgh is the place to make that happen.

For more information on the I’ve Been Admitted to College program, contact Enyedi at [email protected].

— By Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs

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