First Class From Dean’s Future Scholars Program Set to Graduate

Dean’s Future Scholars, a University of Nevada, Reno, program that prepares and equips Nevada middle- and high-school students for postsecondary education, will graduate 35 scholars in spring 2006. The 35 students are the first graduating class of the DFS program, started in 2000.

After graduation, 17 students will attend the University of Nevada, Reno, or the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; 10 will attend Truckee Meadows Community College; and eight will enter the work force.

The program encourages low-income, culturally diverse and first-generation students from 25 middle and high schools in Nevada’s Washoe and Storey counties to attend college and become teachers. Participants receive the tools and support — including mentors, tutors and access to college-preparatory conferences — that they need to get ready for college. The mentors and tutors are a culturally diverse group of University of Nevada, Reno, undergraduate and graduate students, most of whom are studying counseling.

USA Funds^® provided a $75,000 grant in 2005, its third-consecutive grant in that amount, to support the work of the DFS program.

Currently, DFS selects 50 sixth-grade students each year to participate — up from the 35 chosen in 2000. Students in the sixth grade are targeted because they are making crucial decisions about high-school courses that will affect their ability to attend college.

Once students are selected, they attend their first conference on the University of Nevada, Reno, campus. As the students complete grades seven through 12, they attend reunion conferences on campus. The program includes five phases; the goal of the final phase is enrollment at the University of Nevada, Reno, or another postsecondary institution.

During the program, students become familiar with university services — including student-support, financial-aid and other appropriate resources. They continue to receive guidance from their university mentors. As the scholars become college students, they stay involved in the DFS program by becoming "big brothers or sisters" to incoming sixth-grade participants.

In addition to the student component, parents of DFS students attend conferences with their children and attend special workshops designed to help them prepare their children for college.

“Much of the program’s follow-up information reveals that participants in Dean’s Future Scholars are greatly influenced by the long-term, personal contact of mentors,” says Kyle Malone, USA Funds scholarship and philanthropy manager. “While visiting a participating high school in November, one scholar, Miguel, said that the program and his mentor were the sole reasons he chose to stay in high school, complete his freshman year, resist gang involvement and not find himself in detention like his friends.”

“Many students attribute their educational accomplishments to being involved in the program,” says William Sparkman, dean of the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Reno. “Dean’s Future Scholars helps to keep them focused, place a higher value on education, see their potential and understand that they have limitless abilities and opportunities.”

Currently 298 students participate in the program. Scholars are from a broad range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, including the following:

• Hispanic (57 percent).
• Asian (17 percent).
• Caucasian (10 percent).
• African American (9 percent).
• Native American (7 percent).

USA Funds supports the DFS program as part of its commitment to enhancing postsecondary-education preparedness, access and success in Nevada. USA Funds is the designated guarantor of federal education loans in eight states, including Nevada.