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ACP News
ACP launches mentoring program
for neighborhood third-graders
ALBANY,
N.Y. (February 13, 2007) - ACP has kicked off its ACP Academy, a mentoring
program to engage elementary school children in the sciences and math.
The college welcomed 28 third-graders from Albany 's Delaware Community School (formerly P.S. 18) for the first gathering of the twice-weekly after-school science program staffed by a teacher from the elementary school and 24 student mentors from ACP. The students were joined by their parents and Albany Public School officials at a kickoff event at the college last night.
ACP Academy is part of the Help Yourself Foundation, started in 2005 by former Union College President Roger Hull, S.J.D., to create college-based programs for potential scholars. The eight-week program strives to interest elementary school children in the sciences and math and encourage them to pursue a college education.
"This is the right idea at the right time," said Dr. Hull. "Most educational experts agree that if one is going to have an impact on young children's educational development, those children must be reached by the third grade."
Eventually, ACP Academy will include 10 grade levels of elementary, middle and high school students, culminating with the college's existing High School Summer Research program as a capstone experience for high school students between their junior and senior years.
ACP President James J. Gozzo, Ph.D., promised an ACP scholarship to any of the students who complete the program and subsequently are accepted to the college.
The benefits of the program are two-fold, Dr. Gozzo said.
"We
want to encourage these students at an early age to succeed, to help them
build confidence in themselves academically, particularly in math and science,"
he said. "We also believe our students, faculty and staff will benefit from
the program through their interaction with these young students, enriching
the entire campus community."
ACP joins The College of St. Rose as one of only two local colleges with a Help Yourself academy and one of only four colleges nationally.
Launched by Dr. Hull during his tenure as president, a successful Help Yourself Academy at Beloit College in Wisconsin has been in existence for 18 years, with 41 percent of the participants remaining with the program through high school.
Of those children, an impressive 95 percent have gone on to college.
Founded in 1881, Albany College of Pharmacy is the oldest pharmacy school in New York state and one of the only private, independent pharmacy schools in the United States . The college has a long history of serving its students and health care professionals as one of the premier pharmacy colleges in the nation. The college now enters a new era in health care with a focus not only on pharmacy, but also on pharmaceutical sciences, biomedical technology and research.