Between D.C. Reads, the After School Kids program and the D.C. Schools Project, Georgetown students have lots of opportunity to give the District’s public school students an educational leg up. But few students know that the University has a successful summer program that helps prepare D.C. students for college. President John DeGioia should be commended for his recent success in landing the Institute for College Preparation (ICP) a cool $10 million grant from the Meyers Foundation.
The newly re-named Meyers Institute for College Preparation, which prepares low-income public school students for college through intensive summer courses, will now be able to double in size over the next five years, accommodating new students every year as opposed to every four years. It will also permit geographical expansion into more areas of Ward 7, one of D.C.’s poorest communities.
“This gift is extremely valuable in terms of giving students tools they need for a successful education,” University spokesperson Julie Green Bataille said.
The ICP’s success rates speak to the good this grant can do: 98 percent of its students graduate from high school—compared to the citywide average of 59 percent—and 85 percent of its students finish college within five years.
Dominique Cauley (COL `09), an alumna of the program, described a typical ICP student as intensely committed to his or her educational goals.
“It’s more than just a program that is academically rigorous,” she said. “It’s a support system … for families and for people who are the first generation to go to college.”
Georgetown is full of pretty posters pushing the Jesuit ideals of community service and “the life of the mind for the life of the world.” By garnering a $10 million grant from the Meyers Foundation for such a successful and beneficial program, the University proved that these ideals are more than just talk.
