Label
Council Members McPherson, Whitman and Hobbs
Title
Recognizing Dr. Helen C. Cooks, creator of the University of Toledo TOLEDO EXCEL initiative, which, for more than 30 years has uniquely serviced the academic needs groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education.
Summary
WHEREAS, Dr. Helen C. Cooks, creator and guiding light of TOLEDO EXCEL, recognized there was a gap in academic assistance offered to certain promising children of above average achievement and became determined to fill that need, so, in 1989, 50 rising high school freshmen with an above average Grade Point Average (GPA) from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education became UT's first EXCEL class; and
WHEREAS, since it began in 1988, TOLEDO EXCEL, a scholarship incentive program at The University of Toledo, has been striving to prepare students for success in college, the makeup of which, involves student members of groups under-represented in higher education-including African, Appalachian, Asian, Hispanic and Native Americans-in pre-college academic programs to increase their self-esteem, cultural awareness of diversity, and civic involvement; and
WHEREAS, among EXCEL's services to high school students are Saturday School, Summer Institutes, tutoring, academic retreat weekends, campus visits, advising for strategic admissions and financial aid, and ethnographic field studies in the U.S. and abroad; and
WHEREAS, criteria for participation in EXCEL are stringent because applications far exceed space available, and come from students attend annual Summer Institutes and may travel within the U.S. or to countries such as Mexico, China, Ghana, or South Africa, and student attendance at academic retreats during the year, and parental support, are required; and
WHEREAS, each student is expected to maintain at least a 3.00 GPA in his/her high school academic curriculum, EXCEL's innovative curriculum, designed to challenge students wit...
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