by Brooke Bunch

Bromley Hall was the summer home to 14 incoming Ohio University freshman — Kristin Barnes, Ian Butcher, Jessica Cross, Rachel Crowder, Tiffani Gilliam, Aaron Harris, Alexis Hines, Laporsha King, Kendra Michel, Rose Sharpe, Joshua Snyder, Allison Stigall, Whitney Waldon and Jeremy Wright — as part of the Summer Enrichment Program sponsored by the OU-COM’s Center of Excellence for Multicultural Medicine. Summer enrichment is an important program — one of several at the college — that helps initiate academically fruitful college careers and defined career paths for disadvantaged students at the university.

The recently graduated high school seniors arrived on campus June 24 to begin the six-week program focused on introducing them to the health and premedical curricula at Ohio.

“These are incoming students who are interested in preprofessional or prehealth curricula,” says Denise Hughes-Tafen, then precollege and communications coordinator. (Hughes-Tafen left the college in August.) “The program exposes them to all areas of college life and helps prepare them for the fall.”

According to Hughes-Tafen, the Summer Enrichment Program is primarily for students who are considered disadvantaged, whether it be due to ethnicity, education or economic reasons.

The program offers courses in chemistry, biology, mathematics, oral and written communications, and computer science. While participating in the program, the students also take classes to assist them with time management skills, research methods and college orientation.

“The objective is to prepare them for college,” says Hughes-Tafen.

As part of the program, students receive assistance with registration and tutoring. The students receive five hours of tuition-paid college credit, as well as a daily stipend to cover expenses.

The students have the opportunity to build relationships, not just with each other, but with faculty and staff from the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Health and Human Services as well as the college.

“One of the advantages they have is that they can form their own little group, their own little family and have a support network already established,” says Hughes-Tafen. “That can be particularly important for the first year when it can be difficult in an all new environment.”

“It was a pleasure and a privilege to work with the students,” says Ingrid Auguste-Keesey, interim precollege and communications coordinator. Auguste-Keesey was hired to help Hughes-Tafen recruit students and to help set up the program. She’s been involved with the program since April.

“Many of the students have told us that the Summer Enrichment program has helped them immensely. They feel less stress about being freshmen, because they are now familiar with the campus.”

Rose Sharpe and Whitney Waldon agreed exactly with that.

Both are 17 year olds from the Dayton area. Sharpe, though undecided, is leaning toward speech, hearing and language pathology or dietetics. Waldon has set her sights on becoming a pediatrician.

Both found the summer a very enriching experience.

Waldon, a graduate of Dunbar High School in Dayton, says she “got a feel for college classes.”

“High school moves at a slower pace. In summer enrichment, classes were paced as they are in college. The oral communication and learning strategies classes helped me to be a better writer, and I was exposed to learning and studying strategies I was not aware of. It was great opportunity to get ahead,” says Waldon.

She says her participation in the Ohio University Health Careers Access Network (OU-HCAN) program and visits to the university influenced her decision to attend Ohio.

“Tyree Winters and Channon Bishop, our resident assistants, were really helpful during the program. They helped us to schedule our classes for the fall — I was stressed out about that,” she says. Winters is a third-year medical student and Bishop is an undergraduate senior.

“I’ve wanted to be a doctor all my life. My family has always wanted to me to be successful.”

“I’m grateful that I was able to experience this; I loved it,” says Sharpe, a graduate of Trotwood Madison High School in Trotwood. “It’s a difficult transition from high school to college. Summer enrichment helped me become acclimated to different resources and the college curriculum.

“My learning skills class stood out to me. It’s “learning how to learn” and how to study. That was my best experience.”

Now after almost three weeks of classes — including Chemistry 151; Math 115; First Aid 227; Social Work 101 — Waldon knows the OU-COM program made it all easier.

“Especially chemistry,” Waldon says. “Most of the material I’m studying now I had during summer enrichment. I also got to know the campus better; I knew where I was going the first day of school! The program gave me more confidence in my ability to get things done.”

Auguste-Keesey says instilling confidence and paving the way to a successful college experience is foremost for the program.

“We had a great group of students this year. They were bright, mature and had a great sense of what they wanted to achieve academically,” says Auguste-Keesey.