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Penny Taylor, PSC TRIO-Student Support Services Retention Specialist.
The free hot dogs and hamburgers are gone. However, Pensacola State College’s TRIO programs still offer free student trips, academic advisors, free tutoring, and so much more all year.
TRIO programs nationwide celebrated a legacy of student service on Feb. 28. Pensacola State’s TRIO Day celebration on the Pensacola campus featured representatives and information booths for all five of the College’s federally-funded TRIO programs:
- Student Support Services
- Eldon L. Norman Educational Opportunity Center
- Educational Talent Search
- Veterans Student Support Services, and
- Veterans Upward Bound.
TRIO honchos and staffers also grilled burgers and hot dogs and served students. That’s their goal, after all – serving students, said Penny Taylor, a PSC TRIO-Student Support Services Retention Specialist.
“I always tell students that we become their family on campus,’’ Taylor said. “If there is anything, we can do to help them succeed academically and in life, we’re going to do that.”
Taylor said that despite the varied and valuable services of TRIO programs, many students aren’t aware of them.
“That’s why we’re out here,’’ she said. “To let them know we can help them.”
TRIO-Student Support Services offers students personal tutoring, an Academic Advisor/Life Skills Counselor, grant help, free academic university trips, and more. Eligible students must meet one of three requirements: first-generation college student, low-income or disability that requires special accommodations.
Here is a look at PSC’s other TRIO programs:
- TRIO-Veterans Student Support Services ensures that U.S. military veterans succeed in College and offers the same services as the Student Support Services program. The qualifying criteria are the same with one addition – students must be U.S. military veterans receiving a discharge other than dishonorable.
- TRIO-Veterans Upward Bound provides veterans who are first-generation college students with college prep and GED courses at no cost. Veterans Upward Bound aims to prepare veterans to succeed in college. Services include tutoring, test preparation, financial assistance, cultural field trips and more. Eligible students must be first-generation college students, demonstrate an academic need, and have received a military discharge other than dishonorable.
- TRIO- Eldon L. Norman Educational Opportunity Center assists low- and modest-income and individuals who will be first-generation college students either enroll in a postsecondary institution for the first time or return to high school or postsecondary education.
The program is open to adults 18 and older who live in Escambia or Santa Rosa counties.
- TRIO-Educational Talent Search aims to increase the number of underrepresented youths who complete high school and then enroll in a college or university. Services include academic counseling, SAT/ACT preparation, and, for qualifying students, test fee waivers, college tours and financial assistance help.
The program is open to students in grades 6 through 12. Students must maintain a grade point average of 2.0 or higher.