coe McNair Scholars

Graduate School Bound

Education Majors Aim to Increase Diversity Within the American Professoriate

The Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education McNair scholars Mallory
Cervantes & Terrez Thomas

ATHENS, Ohio (Feb. 22, 2007) – Upward Bound is the first link in a chain designed to provide higher education opportunities to those who might not otherwise have the chance for academic advancement.

This national program offers valuable services to some of our outstanding The Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education students.

An alumnus of the program, Jim Schurrer, B.S.Ed. ’05, now teaches English at Catholic Central High School and plans to pursue a graduate degree in comparative cultural studies. He says McNair provides its scholars with a breadth of resources that enable them to successfully enter graduate degree programs. Among these resources are GRE prep courses, assistance with graduate school applications, the opportunity to perform graduate-level research and the chance to present that research at national McNair conferences.

The summer research phase, in which students work with a mentor to complete an original research project, is what attracted junior Terrez Thomas to the program. Terrez, who plans to research the funding of public schools in Ohio in an effort to uncover inequalities, says he believes research experience the program provides will set him ahead of other graduate school applicants.

McNair Scholar Tiffany Thomas, B.S.Ed. ’05, is now teaching language arts at Heritage Middle School. Thomas says the mentors and others involved with the program are a caring group. Mallory Cervantes, a junior math education major, agrees. “Once you are admitted into the program, you are a McNair scholar for life,” she says. Mentors, program coordinators and fellow scholars form a support system for students as they continue to strive for excellence in their academic endeavors.