Building Better Schools: Elite Scholars Program puts local students on fast track to success

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - A partnership between Toledo Public Schools and the University of Toledo College of Engineering is putting students on the fast track to success.

The Elite Scholars Program allows high school seniors to be able to take classes in the College of Engineering at no cost to them. The program promotes pathways to engineering for underrepresented students in the Toledo Technology Academy of Engineering.

“We are excited about it. We think it could be a great opportunity for not only for our students, but maybe other students, said Senior Director Susan Rowe-Finley. “There may be Start students, Bowser, Rogers, students that maybe wanted to come to TTA, but weren’t mature enough, their grades weren’t ready, students who have maybe learned how to do school and now know what they wanna do and say ‘I really wanna get into that program.’ If they can meet the GPA requirements, if they have their prereqs, then this is another intake for students to come to TTA.”

11 seniors will be taking classes at the University of Toledo and will earn their high school diploma and college credits at no charge.

“We are very interested in trying to find ways to make the engineering profession more representative, because right now, if you walk into an engineering facility, a lot of people look like me, said Bryan Bosch, manager of pre-engineering programs for the College of Engineering at UToledo. “We want to find a way to make it more of a representative of the population of the Toledo community, the United States of America and the world. The only way we can do that is by working with the communities that have all different types of people from all kinds of backgrounds and trying to kind of ingrain that engineering knowledge into those people at an earlier age.”

Bosch says this is an opportunity of a lifetime for students who want to go into the field of engineering.

“I don’t believe, if those students choose to commute, that any of them will really have any out-of-pocket expenses getting a college degree,” said Bosch.

The goal is to open this opportunity up to juniors in the future.

“The students are gonna be successful, they’re gonna be out of here in 3 1/2 years with an engineering degree and they’re gonna be good representatives of not only TTA but the University of Toledo and of the Toledo community which is something we all want,” said Bosh.

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