RELEASED: June 19, 2003

DANVILLE, KY—Centre junior DeShawn Collett and Eric Heyman '02 know the difference the Whitney M. Young Scholar Program can make. Both were participants in the program as middle and high school students while growing up in Louisville, went on to successful college careers at Centre, and have come back to ensure that other students have the same experience that they did.

"A lot of them remind me of myself and I want them to end up where I am. I don't want them to waste their time now," Collett said.

The Whitney M. Young Scholar Program works to prepare 7-12th grade economically disadvantaged students from the Jefferson County, Ky., area for college. The program runs at Centre from June 15-27. This is the second year Centre has hosted the program.

Collett and Heyman are residential counselors for the two-week camp. Both hope to be positive role models for the students and show what the Young scholar program can do.

"If you stick with it, you can make it through and it can pay off," Heyman said. "It's important for them to see someone who knows what they're going through and who can relate to them. We came from the same places."

Collett and Heyman said that the program acclimates students to college life, professors and coursework. The participants then take that knowledge back with them to school.

"The students do want to learn, they just need to be in the right environment," Heyman said. "It's once you cultivate all that, mold it and put it in the right perspective that things can happen."

Collett, Heyman and the other counselors go with the students to classes, participate in the activities and are actively involved in the experiences of the participants. Collett said he wants to show the students what he and the other counselors have done and that they're willing to do everything that the participants are asked to do during the camp.

Once the two-week camp is over, Heyman said, "I want to see them make something of themselves, have some motivation to do something with their life."

Collett added, "They can do anything they want to. Grade 12 isn't the end, it’s just the beginning."

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