Upward
Bound 2008: A Perfect Memory
Carleen Brandenburg (February 20, 2014)
Throughout my high
school years I went to a program called Upward Bound. Upward Bound is a program
that is funded by TRiO, which is a series of federally funded programs that are
designed for educational outreach. Upward Bound is meant for high school
students who are either potential first-generation college students, meet low
income guidelines, or even both. There’s a summer program which lasts for about
six weeks, and then an academic year program where the Upward Bound students
meet up once a month to have fun and learn about college at the same time.
During the summer program, there’s a week long break where students can visit
their family for the fourth of July. Some programs allow you to stay in a
college dorm and others you commute to the college campus every day. The
program I went to allowed students to stay in a college dorm. During the
academic year portion of the program, they would hire tutors for anybody who
needed help on school work (and was required for those getting any Cs or worse
in school). The Upward Bound trip I went on during the summer of 2008 taught me
important skills about making friends.
During late
February my dad, sister, and I went to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa for
Upward Bound Orientation. I felt nervous
and shy at first, but after meeting Jazmyn, who was also starting Upward Bound
this summer, it started to become more fun and interesting. At the Orientation
I got to learn about what Upward Bound is, make new friends, and go on a campus
tour. I also received a packet I had to fill out so they could set up the dorm
rooms. Since I chose for them to pick out my roommate, I wouldn’t know until
the very first day that Jazmyn would be my roommate. This made my summer a lot better having her as a roommate.
June
15, 2008 was finally the day I would be moving into the dorms for my first
summer of Upward Bound, which would last for six weeks. I was very nervous, yet
excited to move into Olsen Dorms and for Upward Bound in general. I would be
able to move into the dorms at 2 pm on that day. At 2 pm I arrived at the dorms
with my father, mother, and my sister Helen. When I arrived at the dorm I had
to fill out a form about any allergies and medication I was taking. Once I
turned in the form, I went onto the second floor to sign-in and receive my key
for my room. I also received another form I had to fill out which would explain
the quality of the dorm and any needed repairs so they could fix anything.
After receiving the key and the form, I unlocked my room and brought in my
things so I could unpack. This was the moment I found out that my roommate was
Jazmyn who I met at Orientation. This would cause me to be a lot more excited
about Upward Bound.
The
next day would be my first day of classes for Upward Bound, and it ended up
being very eventful. At around 9 AM, two staff members opened our door and woke
me up with a good morning song. When I woke up I looked at my clock confused
and then realized we were late for class. So I woke up Jazmyn and she also
looked at her clock. In the end, both of us became panicked because we were
late. The two staff members told us to get ready and then go to the library for
tutoring. After we got ready, we grabbed a couple cereal bars and went to Preus
Library. While we were walking, we got lost a few times which made the walk really
confusing for Jazmyn and me. Because we were late, we were “campused”, which is
basically being grounded. We had to check in at 9 pm and had a half hour to get
ready for bed. At 9:30 pm, we had to be in our dorm room for the night.
Every
night before sleep, Jazmyn and I would hold a conversation. This would make me
feel at peace (I eventually learned that she thought I was talking to myself).
I would talk about anything and everything with her, which helped build our
friendship. I don’t remember any of the conversations we shared at all, but I
remember it being fun. For the first week we would sleep on the beds in our
dorm room.
After
the first week, we decided that it would be fun to sleep by each other on the
floor. It was a random decision, but it was probably one of our best decisions
we made. We would do this every night for the rest of the summer. This resulted
in better bonding and hearing the music we’d fall asleep to better. This made
me feel happy and ended up being comfier than most people think.
There
was this week long break during Upward Bound for the 4th of July.
That break was really boring, so when I arrived back on campus, I was really
happy. I missed hanging out with Jazmyn. During our first week of being back on
campus after the break we shared a class. The class we shared was called ‘UB
Idol’. This class was taught by a staff
member named Eli Pollock.
In this class, we learned about proper singing techniques and had to split into
groups of two to perform a duet at the end of the week. Jazmyn and I chose to
sang “I’ll Cover You” from RENT. I
thought this class was fun because I got to sing and learned how to sing
better.
A few weeks later, it
was the last day of the 2008 summer for Upward Bound. It was a very sad day
because that would mean I’d have to leave Jazmyn and go home. When Jazmyn was
leaving for home, we gave each other a hug and traded stuffed animals, so we
could remember each other. Jazmyn gave me her stuffed cat she got when she was
young named Mr. Jolly. In return, I handed her my stuffed cat I made for my 11th
birthday at Build-A-Bear Workshop. Even though we would see each other at
weekend events during the academic year, it was still a sad day, since we
bonded so much that summer.
Upward Bound was still
fun the following summers of my high school years, but this summer was the best
because I got to become best friends with Jazmyn. Most importantly, the
friendship we shared made this program fun and loveable in my view. The summer
of 2008 ended up being one of my best summers ever and I’ll never forget all of
the people that I’ve met, especially Jazmyn.
