By
Emily Severson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA volunteers hope to attract more members
Junior Wildcats, a college recruitment program that targets middle schoolers, beat 12 other contestants to win the $1,000 first-place prize at the Best Education Practices Conference.
The program won in the post-secondary division at the third annual conference, which was organized by the Arizona Commission for post-secondary education and held at the Art Institute of Phoenix April 7.
The purpose of the conference is to bring together Arizona educators in post-secondary and elementary education, said Junior Wildcats adviser Arezu Corella.
"It was really exciting to win the award," said Teresa Blevins, a Junior Wildcat recruiter and a secondary education junior. "Hopefully, people will see we are an award-winning organization and want to volunteer."
Karen Lutrick, a Junior Wildcat recruiter and the organization's secretary, said the award adds to the organization's credibility and recognition.
"Some people think we are nuts talking to eighth-graders about college, but this shows that we are fulfilling a need," said Lutrick, an elementary education junior. "It is really nice that someone took the time to say what we are doing is worthwhile."
Corella said the conference gave them a chance to learn about other programs and how to work together to better educate students.
She added that they had not determined what they were going to do with the $1,000, but it would probably go to paper handouts for the elementary students.
About 25 University of Arizona students volunteer with the group, called Junior Wildcat Recruiters, and teach kindergartners through eighth-graders in all of Tucson's school districts' college preparatory skills.
"We want to reach out to a broader community," Corella said. "We don't only target specific schools or anything like that."
The program was created in 1999. Organizers arrange three different projects to assist students in preparing for college - UA campus tours, eighth-grade classroom presentations and a parents' night.
This year they also received a $4,000 grant from the education board to fund a program called the "Drawing an Essay" contest.
"The contest is for kindergarten through sixth-graders," Corella said. "The kindergartners through second-graders draw a picture of what they want to be when they grow up, and the older kids write an essay."
Corella said she hoped the program would continue each year so the students would be reminded of their college opportunities. She also said she hoped to extend the contest because now it is only offered to 20-30 schools a year.
Last year, more than 2,500 Tucson elementary school students visited the UA campus to learn about the skills to prepare them for college.
