The University of the Virgin Islands will launch a new program this summer for graduating high school students who have been accepted to the university as freshmen for the fall 2011 semester. The program will help students jump-start their college careers at UVI by improving their understanding and skills in math and English, according to Dr. Haldane Davies, special assistant to UVI President David Hall.
“Many incoming freshmen are not prepared to take college level math and English courses that count toward graduation requirements,” Davies said. “As a result, such students often spend one or two semesters taking preparatory (skills) courses before being eligible to take the credit-bearing college courses.”
The summer “bridge” concept is not new to UVI. Many colleges and universities on the U.S. mainland offer summer bridge programs that help students transition from high school to college. UVI President Dr. David Hall added that he was “very pleased that UVI has been able to obtain funding from the U.S. Department of Education to support our program so that we could make it free of charge to students selected to participate.”
Students will live in the UVI residence halls on the Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix and the St. Thomas campus from July 5 through July 29 and take courses in mathematics, English, reading and speech. They will learn of the many campus resources offered for their academic success and be encouraged to form networks of learning communities before fall semester classes begin in August.
While the program intends to target junior high school students as well as senior high school students, only graduating high school seniors will be admitted for this summer.
Former UVI Provost Dr. Gwen-Marie Moolenaar has been contracted to develop the program, which will serve 40 students on each campus. Campus coordinators for the program are Professor Lynda Wymer on St. Thomas and Shari Wiltshire on St. Croix. Interested students who intend to enter UVI in fall 2011 and would like to participate in the program should call 693-1499 on St. Thomas or 692-4263 on St. Croix.
Applications may be downloaded from the “Summer Bridge” section of the UVI Web site: www.uvi.edu.
