{"id":65151,"date":"2022-01-19T13:31:43","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T20:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=65151"},"modified":"2022-01-19T13:31:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T20:31:43","slug":"talent-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/talent-search\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU awarded $4.8 million to help low-income, first-generation college students, displaced and underemployed adults access higher education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Access to postsecondary education can\u00a0be difficult for some students. The college search process can require money, knowledge and confidence that might dissuade\u00a0would-be\u00a0students from pursuing a degree.\u00a0That is where\u00a0TRiO\u00a0programs like Talent Search and Educational Opportunities Centers\u00a0(EOC)\u00a0come in. These federally funded programs assist low-income students prepare to enroll in college and help unemployed workers, low-wage workers and returning high school and college students enter or continue a program of postsecondary education.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Talent Search\u00a0and EOC, which\u00a0have\u00a0been funded at NAU since the\u00a0mid-\u00a0and\u00a0late\u00a01980\u2019s\u00a0have\u00a0helped thousands of students\u00a0graduate. Talent Search\u00a0identifies and assists middle and high school students who have the potential to succeed\u00a0in higher education. At least two-thirds of the students in each local Talent Search program are from low-income economic backgrounds and families in which neither parent has a bachelor’s degree. Talent Search provides these students with counseling as well as information about college admissions requirements, scholarships and various student financial aid programs so that they can better understand their educational opportunities and options.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

EOC\u00a0focuses\u00a0on\u00a0providing\u00a0services to improve financial and economic literacy.\u00a0Among these comprehensive services\u00a0are academic and personal counseling, tutoring and mentoring, career workshops, information on postsecondary education opportunities, student financial assistance and help in completing applications for college admissions. EOC programs offer services to a broad range of adult learners, including those who have a limited proficiency in English, to groups that are traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary education, individuals with disabilities, homeless individuals, youth aging out of the foster care system and other disconnected students.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The almost $4.8 million grant to NAU\u2019s Talent Search and EOC from the\u00a0U.S. Department of Education\u00a0will fund five years of the programs, helping 2,300 local students and adult learners.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Princess\u00a0Benally,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0the principal investigator for the grant and\u00a0project director\u00a0for Talent Search, EOC and\u00a0Nizhoni\u00a0Academy at NAU,\u00a0is\u00a0herself\u00a0a product of a\u00a0TRiO\u00a0program.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn high school,\u00a0I participated in the Colorado University, Boulder Upward Bound program,\u00a0and I attribute my high school success to that program,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I moved to\u00a0northern Arizona,\u00a0I assisted NAU\u2019s Upward Bound Math Science program one summer and was reminded how fun and valuable these summer programs are and how much I enjoyed working with\u00a0youth. A few months later,\u00a0I started working with\u00a0<\/span>Nizhoni\u00a0Academy<\/span><\/a>, which I absolutely adore. It seemed to solidify my passion and drive for providing youth with any assistance they may need to succeed in postsecondary education.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 80\u00a0percent\u00a0of Talent Search participants enroll in postsecondary institutions immediately following high school graduation. In\u00a0this\u00a0academic year, more than 309,000 students are enrolled in 473 Talent Search TRIO projects in the U.S.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to provide our students with the confidence to pursue postsecondary education,\u00a0we begin with our curriculum,\u201d\u00a0Benally\u00a0said. \u201cWe are revamping and updating our\u00a0Talent Search\u00a0curriculum so we can incorporate more up-to-date learning methodologies like virtual and hybrid learning. While these more digitally savvy practices are great resources, we continue to meet with our students in person\u00a0in one-on-one or group sessions, because these face-to-face meetings\u00a0are essential for student success.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The information provided to students\u00a0is\u00a0specific to their grade level and proximity to applying for college.\u00a0TriO\u00a0programs also provide workshops for participants that range from science exploration to college campus information to career exploration; they also offer participants workshops that include FAFSA help and ways to support a college-bound participant.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLong-term success can look very different for each student,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cIt could be higher confidence levels or better grades. However, we strive to provide students with the information to succeed in postsecondary education,\u00a0and\u00a0we highly encourage our students to attain a certification, licensure and definitely a postsecondary degree.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn more about\u00a0<\/span>NAU\u2019s\u00a0TRiO\u00a0programs<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Access to postsecondary education can\u00a0be difficult for some students. The college search process can require money, knowledge and confidence that might dissuade\u00a0would-be\u00a0students from pursuing a degree.\u00a0That is where\u00a0TRiO\u00a0programs like Talent Search and Educational Opportunities Centers\u00a0(EOC)\u00a0come in. These federally funded programs assist low-income students prepare to enroll in college and help unemployed workers, low-wage workers and…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":65161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}