Packers grant helps Phuture Phoenix begin connecting with parents
The Phuture Phoenix program at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is one of 62 organizations to receive financial support from the Green Bay Packers Foundation.
Phuture Phoenix was awarded a $4,000 grant, which is intended for the development of a spring event for parents of Phuture Phoenix students.
Phuture Phoenix organizers are planning to bring parents of fifth- to ninth-graders to campus, give them a tour and encourage discussions with Financial Aid and Admissions staff members to help them steer their children toward a college education in the future.
“This age group is critical because, by the end of a student’s ninth-grade year, there must be a higher education plan in place in order for the students to begin, in tenth grade, to take those classes necessary to continue on to a higher education degree,” said Phuture Phoenix Associate Director Stephanie Cataldo-Pabich.
Meeting with the parents also lets them learn about the resources available and the steps involved to make higher education go from being a wish to a reality for their children.
Phuture Phoenix is a program that supports and encourages students, beginning in fifth grade, to continue their education beyond 12th grade. UW-Green Bay college students serve as role models for the fifth-graders and continue contact with them through the middle and high school years, mentoring and motivating them to continue on to a university, college or technical college.
The grant will help bring information to parents of Phuture Phoenix students to keep their goals of continuing onto higher education on track.
Phuture Phoenix has partnered with the Green Bay Title I elementary schools and with the West De Pere and Oneida Nation school districts. Elementary schools in Bonduel, Bowler, Oconto, Suring, Shawano and Sturgeon Bay also participate through an outreach program. Each year, the UW-Green Bay campus hosts more than 1,000 fifth-graders at a Phuture Phoenix Day event, where kids get to experience university life first hand.
The Phuture Phoenix program has benefited more than 7,400 fifth-graders since its inception in 2003.
The Packers Foundation awarded more than $176,000 this year to 62 civic and charitable groups throughout the state. The groups were guests at a luncheon at the Lambeau Field Atrium on Monday, Feb. 22. The event brought all the recipients together and recognized the outstanding efforts and services performed by each of the organizations.
For more information:
www.uwgb.edu/phuturephoenix/
www.packers.com/news/releases/2010/02/22/1/
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