Wayne State University’s Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies’ (CLLAS) Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) kicked off the 2016 program with its largest cohort ever. Many of this year’s students are from low- to medium-income households and geographically diverse school districts, including nearby Western International and Detroit Cristo Rey, as well as others in Northville and Novi. One student hails from Chicago.

Funded by a $100,000 grant from the DTE Energy Foundation, SEP is a premier college transition program that immerses Chicano-Boricua Studies (CBS) program scholars in critical gateway courses at Wayne State University, including English composition, mathematics and cultural studies. 

According to CLLAS Director Jorge Chinea, SEP instructors and their peer mentor assistants engage students in academically rigorous classroom exercises that are patterned closely around the first-year college experience. Students are also exposed to the larger university environment, from lecture halls and cafeterias to libraries and laboratories, gaining important insights about the campus community. These activities are supplemented with team-building opportunities that allow students to learn with and from each other, and develop valuable leadership skills.

“We are very grateful to JoAnn Chávez for the generous gift from DTE Energy that makes it possible for us to offer the Summer Enrichment Program,” said Chinea.         

For the past decade, SEP participants have performed well in their fall English and math classes, enjoying extraordinarily high first-to-second year retention rates that have kept them on track for graduation.

“Our summer program also helps students navigate the university by experiencing the rigors of competitive coursework and simultaneously learning about campus resources,” said E. Zach Morales, CLLAS CBS Scholars coordinator.

A ceremony celebrating the success of SEP participants will take place on Thursday, Aug. 4, at WSU’s El Salón de Nuestra Cultura, 150 General Lectures Building, located at 5045 Anthony Wayne Drive in Detroit.

For more information, call the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies at 313-577-4378 or visit us online..go.wayne.edu/cllas

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 380 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 27,000 students.