Photo courtesy of TRIO From left, Mackenzie Baccus, Lain Bellow, Ayden Sullivan and Samantha Blake participated in TRIO programs over a recent spring break trip downstate. TRIO programs help students navigate paths to higher education and resources to finance their education.

HOUGHTON — TRIO Pre-College Programs have reached 40 years of serving students from middle to high school of the western U.P. The Department of Education’s TRIO are federal programs and services for students of low-income families, first-generation college students and those with disabilities. The programs allow these individuals the opportunity to pursue an education or certification which best aligns with their interests. Over 800 students from 16 school districts in the western U.P. participated in TRIO programs this year.

TRIO began its presence in the area at Finlandia University in the mid 1980s, but after the university’s closure in 2023, the program found a new home at Michigan Tech. TRIO serves the same schools it served under Finlandia, but now at MTU, TRIO operates from the university’s Center for Educational Outreach. TRIO assists students from disadvantaged backgrounds with programs such as Upward Bound and Talent Search.

Michigan Tech Marketing and Communications Manager for the Center for Educational Outreach Gini Gesler and Trio Pre-College Programs Director Dave Kamrad both represent TRIO at Michigan Tech. Kamrad said TRIO’s programs will implement study skills and career exploration for middle school students but once the students enter high school the programs look into exploring specific potential careers, paths into college, SAT prepping and working on financial aid. He said those who have utilized the program have received education in a variety of fields.

“We’re employees of Michigan Tech, but we actually can’t recruit for Michigan Tech,” Kamrad said. “So throughout the year, we do colleges all over the place. We do college visits downstate, in Wisconsin, Minneapolis and a lot of the surrounding area during our summer program, and we actually expand beyond that. We go to the West Coast, East Coast and the South. So whatever university the students are interested in, that’s our goal. It’s just to get them into some kind of degree program at whatever their choice is.”

When it comes to providing tools to achieve financial assistance, Gesler said TRIO can be beneficial to families that have never gone through the process.

“If you haven’t gone through the process as a parent being able to help your child through that process, it’s kind of a lot of unknowns,” Gesler said. “So in helping the student, we help the parents navigate the system that they maybe didn’t even ever go through things like financial aid and college applications and even touring colleges.”

The conclusion of the Upward Bound program brings students to a large city and to show them opportunities found in that setting and how to navigate the area. Next Sunday begins the five week summer program for Upward Bound students where they will live in the Michigan Tech dorms for five weeks and learn subjects in math, science, English and a foreign language. On the sixth week the class will take a trip to Denver, which will present some students with their first flight. The students will visit local colleges, partake in educational activities and tour the Colorado wilderness.

TRIO will bring a group of 15 students down to Detroit in July where they will learn things such as robotics from Lift, a nonprofit organization. During the mornings of the event students will learn while the afternoons have students go to the company and practice the things they learned.

While TRIO does expand the horizon outwards for students, the programs still present a range of opportunities and options close to home. Gesler said this year they brought students to Portage Hospital and the hospital in Ironwood where students could talk with professionals in the health care fields, with some of them being TRIO alumnus. She also said they have provided local students with a tour of Quincy Mine, many of which Gesler said have never been to despite its close distance to their homes.

Whether it is expanding the scope of opportunity far from the Western U.P. or finding chances of a good education within it, TRIO presents the tools for disadvantaged students to seize the chance at progressing their education.

“We’ll provide the tools and the resources and the guidance to help them through high school,” Kamrad said. “We offer academic support, so tutoring with Upward Bound we do a lot of career exploration. We’ll basically figure out whatever they want to do. We’ll help them. We’ll help them get there.”