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Don’t wish for it, work for it! 

TRIO Upward Bound is a federally funded program that helps high school students who are low-income, first-generation, or have a disability to develop the skills and motivation needed to complete high school and advance to and complete a college education. The Upward Bound Program includes Academic Year support and a Summer Academy. Fort Lewis College Upward Bound serves Animas, Durango, Ignacio, and Montezuma-Cortez high schools.

The Upward Bound Summer Academy is a six-week college preparatory program that gives Upward Bound students a taste of the college experience. From early June to early July, participants take college-style classes, participate in service projects, and experience college-like social life through sports, cultural experiences, outdoor adventures, group interaction, and social events. Participants receive instruction in reading, composition, foreign language, math, and laboratory science. In addition, they are offered guidance in educational and career opportunities, as well as exposure to enrichment activities designed to promote leadership, cultural awareness, and self-confidence.

Fort Lewis College TRIO Upward Bound facts

• Over 65% of Upward Bound students are low-income and first-generation college students. 
• Upward Bound has a 95% program retention rate. 
• 84% of Upward Bound students enrolled immediately in college, compared to only 64% of high school graduates in the bottom income quartile.  
• Upward Bound provides intense college preparation and academic enrichment services. Upward Bound students are more than 2X as likely to earn a bachelor’s degree by age 24 than students in the lowest income quartile.
• In 2018, 53% of Upward Bound high school graduates attained a bachelor’s degree by age 24. Only 13% of students from the bottom income quartile in the same graduating class achieved a bachelor’s degree by age 24 without TRIO’s support. 
• MORE THAN 6 MILLION STUDENTS have graduated from college with the special assistance of TRIO programs.