Alisha Brandtmeier entered the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh as a first generation college student. In her first year, she sometimes felt sunken by uncertainty. Everything was brand new. She had difficulty finding a major she felt confident about. She often thought of dropping out.
In the campus’s Student Support Services (SSS) office, Brandtmeier found solace and her way.
“They helped me to decide on a major and, throughout my college experience, stayed in touch with me,” she said. “I felt like I always had a place I could go to if I needed help or just needed to talk. There were several times I was just overwhelmed and wanted to quit, and I would go into my adviser’s office and just talk and cry. I still keep in contact with my adviser even though I have already graduated and found a job.”
Brandtmeier graduated from UW Oshkosh in December with a degree in Spanish education. She is a K-12 teacher in Menasha, and she loves the career path she has set out on.
“Programs like SSS and the McNair Scholars Program are important in helping more first-generation and low income students graduate from college,” said Frank Holmes, academic adviser at UW Oshkosh. “Historically these students have had lower retention and graduation rates and need more support to be successful. In Student Support Services, we can provide this support by teaching these students how to be successful in college. With about half of our UW Oshkosh students as first-generation, this is a program that is needed on this campus.”
Success stories such as Brandtmeier’s, realized with the help of UW Oshkosh experts and counselors like Holmes, will, literally, be on display Thursday, March 29 in Reeve Memorial Union. Holmes said his UW Oshkosh colleagues involved with the institution’s vital SSS and McNair programs will join their students in Reeve Memorial Union for the University’s recognition of National TRiO Day.
UW Oshkosh’s TRiO-supported students will be displaying posters in Reeve Union’s Rooms 201 and 202 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on March 29. University and community guests are welcome to stop in and learn more about the programs and student successes.
It is an opportunity for students to display and highlight their academic pursuits and successes while meeting Wisconsin’s visiting Congressional liaisons. The open-house-styled event demonstrates the value of preserving the federally-funded programs within TRiO. They remain essential initiatives to help promote college enrollment for disadvantaged people facing serious social and cultural barriers to higher education access and attainment of a degree.
“TRiO Day is a great event that celebrates past accomplishments and hard work by many,” said Roger Westcott, of the UW Oshkosh Office of Undergraduate Admissions. “It is always nice to hear stories from the many lives that SSS and McNair have touched. Individually, each story is special and unique, but once everything is put together, that’s when you can really see the full effect of SSS and McNair Scholars.”
In the mid-1960s, a grouping of three federal programs (Upward Bound, Talent Search and Student Support Services) went on to be describe as a “trio” of interconnected initiatives promoting and expanding access to higher educational opportunity for low-income students.
In 1986, Congress established a “National TRIO Day” to focus national attention on the “needs of disadvantaged young people and adults aspiring to improve their lives, to the necessary investment if they are to become contributing citizens of the country, and to the talent which will be wasted if that investment is not made.”
Over the years, the TRiO umbrella has expanded and evolved to include more and different kinds of programs.
Today, UW Oshkosh Student Support Services plays a key role in enabling first-generation, qualifying students stay in college while earning their baccalaureate degrees. Students receive advising and financial aid literacy assistance to propel them in pursuit of a degree. Additionally, the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program encourages eligible undergraduate students to consider preparation for doctoral study and careers in college teaching.
Also on March 29, at noon, TRiO students and representatives from UW System and Congressional offices will take part in a brief, half-hour program acknowledging the program’s ongoing value to the campus, community, region and state.
“TRiO day is valuable to the community in that we have the opportunity to see what these students have accomplished and how they will take these talents into the future,” said Mehgan Clark, an academic adviser with Student Support Services. “These programs are an example of how federal funding sources contribute to Wisconsin’s economic prosperity while showing the importance of investing in higher education for all citizens.”
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