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SLU Receives Three Federal Grants Totaling $4.2 Million to Launch Upward Bound Programs in North St. Louis County High Schools

ST. LOUIS — Saint Louis University has received $4.2 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education to launch three TRIO Upward Bound programs in the Ferguson-Florissant and Riverview Gardens school districts in North St. Louis County.

Upward Bound is a college access program that stimulates students’ interest in post-secondary education and various career fields, including science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. UB programs are specifically designed to assist limited-income high school students who have the potential to be the first in their families to attain a college degree.

Upward Bound is focused on helping students sharpen leadership skills, engage in career and college exploration, learn from guest speakers, and participate in service-learning opportunities and social and cultural outings.

The Saint Louis University Upward Bound programs (SLU-UB) will be open to 9th-12th grade students at McCluer, McCluer North and Riverview Gardens high schools. SLU will annually serve 60 students at each participating school.

The SLU-UB programs are comprised of two components: One that takes place during the academic year, which includes weekly Saturday Academy sessions at SLU, and a second that takes place during the summer and consists of a stay in a campus residence hall. Students will be required to participate in both components.

All academic and student development services will be provided to qualifying students at no cost. SLU will also offer free transportation to and from activities to enrolled students and their families.

SLU-UB services include:

Once students graduate from high school, SLU will monitor their progress for six years, tracking how many attend college and earn degrees. UB students can select any college or university of their choice, though University officials hope some of them will find their college home on SLU’s campus.

“The Upward Bound grants and partnerships with Riverview Gardens High School, McCluer High School and McCluer North High School align with Saint Louis University’s Jesuit tradition of service to others,” said Kathleen Davis, SLU’s vice president for enrollment management. “We are helping students build the foundation for success by extending much-needed pre-college access to skill development and support for postsecondary opportunities. More importantly, we are creating a pathway for students to be college-bound scholars.”

“The work that goes into writing these grants is a collaborative effort,” added William Perkins, who served as assistant vice president of enrollment and retention and director of pre-college, access and TRIO programs at SLU during the grant development process. “We are one of the few in Missouri to receive more than one grant at the same time. We can now put more resources into the community at one time to make a difference in North County.”

L. Renee Graves, MA, MBA (Grad SPS ’19) served as the lead grant writer and will manage all three programs as executive director. Graves previously served as the Upward Bound director at the Higher Education Consortium, of which SLU is a board member. She also has served as an adjunct professor in business at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Harris Stowe State University.

“The Upward Bound grants address the educational needs of our North St. Louis County community by creating opportunities that directly connect students to our University,” Graves said. “For some of our students, Saint Louis University Upward Bound programs will be the only avenue for connecting with college and career services. While we humbly take pride in bridging this connection, we want to ensure that post-secondary education is an option for all.”

Saint Louis University offers two other TRIO programs: Educational Talent Search, which has served more than 500 students in grades 6-12 in St. Louis Public Schools, and the Ronald E. McNair Scholars program, which annually prepares 25 high-achieving SLU undergraduates for the rigor of doctoral studies.