Students from all over the state are coming to Iowa State to experience the college life with the College Bound Program.

Don Inthalangsy, Early Outreach Program assistant, said College Bound is part of the Early Outreach Program, and is good preparation for college.

“For three weeks, we get students from all over Iowa to experience Iowa State,” Inthalangsy said.

“The ninth graders are creating their own pizza business. They learn how to create pizza, they design the pizza box and they learn how to manage a business.”

The College Bound program is a residential summer program for Iowa minority students and talent search participants. Students in grades 8 through 12 are invited to participate.

Karen Webb, program coordinator for College Bound, said there is a separate week-long program for every grade level that participates.

“The goals for the program are to promote and support college preparation among young students,” Webb said.

“We want to give them access to information about college and career options.”

Webb said the program is also designed to enhance their reading comprehension, written and verbal skills, math skills and leadership and team work skills.

“It gives them an opportunity to interact with good role models,” Webb said. “The students actually attend classroom activities and then they go to personal growth and development classes. The evenings are all recreational. It serves as an extended orientation to Iowa State, and our ultimate goal is to let them know they are welcome here and we have services for them if they choose to come here.”

This is the fifth year for the program, and Webb said the program couldn’t continue without the support of the sponsors. College Bound, Department of Residence, Educational Talent Search, LEAD program and the Science Bound program are the sponsors that provide the funding.

“It’s free for the students that come, and we accept 60 students to come each week and have many on a waiting list,” Webb said.

Webb feels so far the program has been a success, but since it’s so new, it’s hard to know for sure.

“Part of the success rate is that students want to come back,” Webb said. “The first group started in 7th grade and now they are rising seniors, so we can’t say for sure yet whether the program really influences these students to go to college. Next year we will be able to really see whether we have been successful or not.”