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General Mills Foundation gives $25,000 to TRiO Summer Bridge

By Amy Gage
June 18, 2007

Ying Lor, a native of Thailand, was among the top 10 students in his class at Humboldt High School in St. Paul. John Vang, a graduate of Washburn High in Minneapolis, is one of eight children of recent immigrants. Demaya Riddley hopes to go to law school and graduated near the top of her class at North High in Minneapolis.

St. Olaf Bridge Foundation
The General Mills Foundation recently donated $25,000 to the St. Olaf Summer Bridge Program. Pictured (l-r) with the check are John Haugen '86, vice president of health and wellness at General Mills; Kathy Peterson Glampe '92, director of Student Support Services; Freida Bou '07; and Principal Gifts Officer Rebecca Otten.
All three are high-achieving students for whom the odds are stacked against ever attending college. Why? Because they come from low-income families, or their parents did not attend college, or both.

The TRiO Student Support Services Summer Bridge Program, which recently got a $25,000 grant from the General Mills Foundation in Minneapolis, helped them bridge that divide.

Lor, Riddley and Vang all are studying and succeeding at St. Olaf in part because of Summer Bridge, which brings first-year students to campus more than a month early to introduce them to college life. Currently sophomores, Lor, Riddley and Vang spent five weeks on campus in August 2005 before their first year of college began.

"Graduation rates of low-income and first-generation college students are much lower," says Kathy Glampe '92, director of TRiO Student Support Services (SSS), the umbrella program for Summer Bridge. "About 30.5 percent of low-income students who start college actually graduate after six years," she says, compared with 90.1 percent for students from prosperous families.

About 70 percent of those served by the program at St. Olaf are students of color, and a growing number of those are recent immigrants.

"We do a lot of initiatives through our foundation to encourage diversity. That's what interested me," says John Haugen '86, vice president of health and wellness at General Mills and the person who helped broker the deal between his employer's philanthropic arm and his alma mater. "Summer Bridge is consistent with things we're already doing and was something that General Mills could be excited about supporting.

"And there was the added benefit of helping St. Olaf," adds Haugen, a former member of the college's Alumni Board and creator of the Case Competition at General Mills, which allows Ole students to get hands-on experience in product marketing.

Bridging the gap
The Summer Bridge Program aims to increase the retention and graduation rate of disadvantaged students by introducing them to campus life and academic expectations before college begins.

About 40 incoming students, most from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, come to St. Olaf each summer for a campus orientation, an introduction to college writing, help with study skills and an intensive version of a semester-long introductory biology class, "Biological Sciences: Issues in Biology," which will be taught this year by Associate Professor of Biology Charles Umbanhowar Jr.

A dozen veteran St. Olaf students, most of whom attended the Summer Bridge Program themselves, are hired to work as group mentors and teaching assistants or biology tutors and supplemental instruction leaders. "They go to class with our Bridge students. They tutor them in the evenings. They help us set up activities," Glampe explains.

In addition to visiting the Mall of America, Guthrie Theater and other Twin Cities landmarks, the students typically go camping, work their way through a ropes course and organize an international food night. The more experienced St. Olaf students also help the newcomers learn what to expect in college: academically, socially, financially and emotionally.

"They guide them in the first year," says Glampe. "Some of the Bridge students' parents might not speak English. They haven't been in college themselves, so they don't know what kind of advice to give their kids."

Summer Bridge also helps students with personal expenses during their five weeks on campus, when they otherwise might be holding down jobs, and to meet the cost of books and other supplies.

"Fees pop up in college everywhere," Glampe says.

Success stories
In its application to the General Mills Foundation, St. Olaf highlighted the success rate of the Summer Bridge Program. Eighty-nine percent of students who took part in 2004 are still enrolled at St. Olaf, as are all of the Bridge students served in 2005 and 2006.

In addition, many have had the chance to participate in advanced research opportunities, according to the application prepared by Director of Government and Foundation Relations Patricia Martin.
  • Pao Lor, a graduate of Humboldt High School and a 2004 Summer Bridge participant, was a Summer Research Scholar last year, working with Biology Professor Umbanhowar.

  • Jose Martinez of Woodbury, Minn., a 2004 Summer Bridge participant, took part in the Summer Medical Experience Program at UCLA last summer.

  • Ying Thao, a graduate of Como Park Senior High in St. Paul and a 2004 Summer Bridge student, took part in last summer's National Institutes of Health Minority Research Training Program at Fort Collins, Colo.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute provides generously each year for the Summer Bridge Program, which also is funded through the U.S. Department of Education. Government monies have not increased for several years, however, making the General Mills grant particularly timely.

"It's going to allow us to continue to meet our staffing needs," says Glampe, "and maintain and even enhance our programming."

St. Olaf Principal Gifts Officer Rebecca Otten credits alumnus Haugen for the $25,000 grant. According to Otten, he brought it to General Mills Foundation Executive Director Ellen Luger, who then suggested that Haugen be the key contact. "It wouldn't have happened if it weren't for him," Otten says.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.