PU program aiming to close wealth gap

Instead of going to the beach or earning some spending money, 23 high school sophomores from Princeton, Trenton and other nearby communities are studying biology, literature and the visual arts at Princeton University.

By: Jeff Milgram, Staff Writer
   Instead of going to the beach or earning some spending money, 23 high school sophomores from Princeton, Trenton and other nearby communities are studying biology, literature and the visual arts at Princeton University.
   "We’re all having fun. We’re learning, experiencing things we wouldn’t have without the program and meeting new people," Charlene St. Claire, a Princeton High School student, said while walking across campus from a biology class at Schultz Laboratory to an English class at Forbes College.
   She is taking part in a new six-week Princeton University Preparatory Program that will prepare the students to be "viable candidates for admission to selective colleges and universities" like Princeton, said Richard Carter, who administers the program which is part of Princeton’s Teacher Preparation Program.
   All 23 are honor-roll students and come from families that earn less than $50,000 a year. They have signed on for three years.
   The program runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. four days a week and students go home at the end of the day. The fifth day is devoted to field trips to museums and theaters.
   Later, during the school year, the teens will be paired with Princeton University students, who will act as mentors.
   Dr. Carter said he hopes the program will give students some of the advantages in life that more affluent teens get from private music lessons, foreign travel and exposure to professional theater and music.
   "The program is about access to opportunity," he said.
   John Webb, the director of Princeton’s Teacher Preparation Program, said these students are at a disadvantage when it comes time to apply to elite colleges. He wants the program to give these teens the confidence to apply to top schools and to believe that they belong there once they are admitted.
   "The benefits of exposure to something like this are exponential," he said. "It opens up other areas."
   Miguel Centeno, a Princeton sociology professor, said the program helps "level the playing field" in a world where "the admission competition has become so extreme."
   The university invited every ninth-grade student in the area who made the honor roll to apply for the program and 57 applied. It hopes to expand the program, for 75 teen-agers
   Dr. Webb said success will be measured by how much the students get out of the program, not by the number who go on to elite colleges.
   "What we’re doing is expanding the possibilities," said Dr. Centeno.