News

Cheney, Wash. - Students and graduates from Eastern Washington University's two TRIO programs, Student Support Services and McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement, will soon gather to celebrate National TRIO Day with two big events.

TRIO Day Celebration - Come and join the National TRIO Day celebration starting at 2 p.m., Tuesday, April 19, in Hargreaves Reading Room (2nd floor). Alumni and current students who have benefited from TRIO programs will be on hand to share their success stories. Also expected to attend are federal and state legislative representatives, EWU President Rodolfo Arévalo and various EWU faculty, staff and community supporters.

Community Outreach Event - EWU's TRIO programs are sponsoring a clothing drive for the local Cheney Clothing Bank. Our goal is to collect 500 pieces of clothing between March 28 and April 14. If you have clean, reusable clothes you would like to donate, there will be boxes available throughout the campus. We will also be collecting new, unused socks and undergarments. The Cheney Clothing Bank provides all its clothing to consumers free of charge.

What is TRIO? - For low-income Americans who have college potential but lack the wherewithal to go it alone, eight federally-funded programs called TRIO are making a world of difference. These educational opportunity outreach programs are designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

"Eastern's TRIO programs are the lifelines to the university for many of our first-generation, low-income students," said Ruth Galm, executive director of Grant and Research Development at EWU. "These programs support students' academic development as well as help them overcome challenges they face in seeking financial aid and balancing school with family. EWU's McNair Scholars and Student Support Services have been instrumental in ensuring that at-risk students not only obtain an undergraduate degree, but also seek rewarding career paths and consider graduate education as well."

TRIO Student Support Services - The TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) project has been on the Eastern campus since 1977, and has served thousands of students. EWU's project focuses on academic support in the areas of reading, writing, math and effective college study strategies. Annually, EWU's SSS project's retention (83 percent) and six-year graduation (52 percent) rates are higher than the overall institutional averages. Because of the success of the TRIO Student Support Services projects in Washington, the state legislature has funded a sister program, Washington TRIO Expansion Program (WaTEP), to serve an additional 250 TRIO-eligible students at EWU.

TRIO Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program - Named for astronaut and Challenger space shuttle crew member Ronald E. McNair, TRIO's Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program was funded by Congress in 1989 to encourage underrepresented students to pursue graduate-level degrees. Since EWU's McNair program began in 1995, 71 EWU McNair Scholars have earned master's degrees, four have earned PhD's and more than 50 are currently enrolled in graduate programs.

Martín Meráz García, assistant professor of Chicano Education at Eastern, is an alumnus of TRIO SSS and McNair. "As a first-generation student who entered college with limited academic skills, I was given the support that enabled me to earn a doctoral degree ¬that allows me to teach at universities, present my research at national and international conferences and to publish articles in scholarly journals."

"During these economically arduous times, more people across the country and in our own communities need to know about the services of the TRIO Programs and how vital they are to the success of our nation," said Aaron Brown, a TRIO alumnus and current director of the SSS program at EWU. "People need to know that TRIO works. TRIO changes lives."

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