NEWPORT, R.I. -- Salve Regina University has started a freshman academy at Rogers High School, a partnership designed to support "at-risk" ninth-graders and reduce the school's dropout rate.
The program will begin Monday, Sept. 16, with a leadership training day at the University of Rhode Island's Alton Jones campus. The event will include team problem-solving, low ropes course and trust building activities. Activities will be conducted from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Participants will include 10 Rogers High School faculty members, 32 freshmen, faculty members from Salve Regina's education department and Salve Regina students enrolled in the university course, "Tutoring and Mentoring in a Multicultural Society."
The freshman academy is part of Salve Regina's dropout prevention program in partnership with Rogers High School, paid for by the van Beuren Charitable Foundation.
The effort, launched in 2010 by Kathleen Vespia, secondary education coordinator at Salve Regina, aims to help at-risk students meet the state requirement to demonstrate minimum levels of proficiency on the NECAP, part of the new graduation requirements.
Additional activities include monthly planning and evaluation meetings, student goal-setting sessions, mid-year performance reviews and field trips from Roger Williams High School to Salve Regina's campus.
By Linda Borg