SLI is holding a benefit dinner on February 27th, 2009. The event will feature UNC celebrity waiters and Doug García, Assistant Secretary of Education of Virginia. RSVP or send a donation here.
THE PROGRAM
Through The University of North Carolina's Scholars' Latino Initiative (SLI) — housed at the Center for Global Initiatives — undergraduates, faculty, and alumni collaborate to expand educational opportunities for Latino high school students. The program encourages Latino high school students, who have demonstrated promise by the beginning of their sophomore years, to pursue higher education. SLI provides comprehensive resources: mentoring, college prep sessions, skills development, cultural enrichment, and opportunities for public service — all to assist our students in their desire for higher education.
THE SELECTION PROCESS
High school sophomores are chosen by their teachers at Jordan Matthews High School in Siler City, NC, Lee and Southern Lee High Schools in Sanford, NC, and Asheboro High School in Asheboro, NC. Upon completion of a rigorous application and interview process guided by current undergraduate mentors, approximately a dozen UNC sophomores are also selected. The successful candidates are then paired — UNC students with high school students— to begin a three-year mentoring relationship.
EARLY COLLEGE EXPERIENCE
UNC faculty, staff, alumni, and the undergraduate mentors design and implement activities to encourage intellectual, cultural, and social development. The high school students undertake challenging academic and extracurricular projects, develop leadership skills, and serve their communities. Activities range from special tutorials, SAT and ACT workshops, sessions supplying information on college admissions and scholarship assistance, concerts and other cultural events, outings to the UNC campus, and visits to the communities by filmmakers, public officials, and authors. Parental involvement is integral to a successful pursuit of higher education, and participants at both UNC and the high schools work towards a strong partnership between parents and students.
SLI high school students also complete an early college course, which starts late in their sophomore year and concludes early in their senior year. The mentoring relationship, however, allows SLI to be particularly attentive to the special needs of each high school student.
A GROWING SLI
With the successful establishment of SLI at the initial site in Siler City, we recently expanded to include other high schools in the state. Additionally, other universities including Duke University and the University of Richmond have taken up the call and begun their own SLI-like programs. Our objective is to utilize the wonderful reservoir of goodwill on our university campuses to nurture the next generation of Latino leadership.