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A spirit that is not afraid

'Like a good neighbor'

Auburn University helps Loachapoka High School students get into college thanks to a $58,000 grant from State Farm.

The grant was received by the university outreach program from State Farm's Youth Advisory Board, or YAB.

Ralph Foster, a director with the outreach program, said national grants are rare.

"Out of more than 1,100 grant proposals, State Farm presented only 82 awards in the U. S. and Canada," Foster said. "Auburn was one of two in Alabama to receive a grant this year."

The grant would initiate a service-learning based preparatory program at Loachapoka to help students get into and succeed in college. The program would focus on computer skills, math, reading and writing.

The program would start out with mentoring for 7th and 8th graders on topics such as study skills, time management and goal setting. Then, in 9th grade, students would receive computers to further technological skills.

Verizon Wireless signed on to provide technological support.

Finally, in 11th and 12th grade, students would receive a rigorous pre-college experience, including seminars at Auburn about financial aid, campus life and enrollment.

Foster said students gain valuable experience in their field of study through service projects.

"National studies have demonstrated over and over the beneficial effects of service learning programs for both the participating students and the community around them," Foster said. "Our goal is to see a 25 percent increase in college applications among the LHS students."

According to reports from the Counsel of Chief State School Officers Web site, 8th grade students at Loachapoka are almost 20 percent below the average state reading proficiency and 16 percent below the average math proficiency.

Foster said the mentoring and tutoring programs would help with the performance in math and sciences. He said the decision to partner with Loachapoka was based on need and potential impact.

"We have an opportunity to work with a whole community of students and make a real difference in their lives as they grow and progress through to college," Foster said. "The experience we gain here can be applied elsewhere, and our plans long term are to establish many other AuburnK-12 partnerships with other school systems in our area, and even statewide."

Loachapoka principal Jim Wilkerson said the program is still in the planning stages and he feels the grant was a godsend.

"We can do so many things with that money to help Loachapoka High School," Wilkerson said.

The money will provide for the program through its first year. Auburn has made a long-term commitment to Loachapoka and will continue to try and obtain support.

Wilkerson said being paired with Auburn was important because the kids see it on TV and look up to students here.

"The kids think of Auburn University as something bigger than life, so to have someone who is basically bigger than life come here and help you is obviously giving the kids a lot of confidence," Wilkerson said.

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