UW-Green Bay prepares for 1,300-plus fifth-graders for Phuture Phoenix Day

GREEN BAY — Phuture Phoenix Day returns to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus for the eighth year, bringing more than 1,300 fifth-graders one step closer to the college experience.

Students from 13 Green Bay elementary schools and nine other area school districts will visit classrooms, residence halls, the Cofrin Library and other parts of campus Tuesday (Oct. 13) and Thursday (Oct. 15). They also will connect with more than 300 UW-Green Bay student mentors.

Some will get to meet Wisconsin First Lady Jessica Doyle. She plans to visit with the students and their mentors from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Tuesday.

All invited fifth-graders and their teachers participate in planned activities and get to know their mentors in group settings. Phuture Phoenix Day is a coordinated effort to inspire academic success and alert children to educational opportunities beyond high school.

Students tour the University and are invited into classrooms and lab areas for various experiments and activities. Some may learn new phrases in foreign languages or hear music students perform.

New during Phuture Phoenix Day is a stroll through the Lawton Art Gallery on campus, playing soccer with members of the Phoenix soccer teams in the Kress Center turf gym, and classes featuring food science, ecology, and dance. Some students will even get to make slime with chemistry Prof. Julie Lukesh and UW-Green Bay students.

One class will also let Phuture Phoenix students use clickers, an interactive technology that lets students answer questions with individual remote controls that can tabulate classroom responses in real time. Many UW-Green Bay professors use the technology in their classrooms to show class comprehension or even give quizzes.

Additionally, students will have the opportunity to compete with many of UW-Green Bay’s Division I athletes in the new Kress Events Center.

The Phuture Phoenix program partners with schools with high percentages of students from low-income families and encourages students to graduate from high school and pursue a college education. The number of students involved in the program has nearly tripled since it started in 2003.

Phuture Phoenix Associate Director Stephanie Cataldo Pabich said the program is stronger than ever and continues to lead the way to a college education for thousands of youngsters in Northeastern Wisconsin. The expected attendance of more than 1,300 students should set a record, she said.

“We want kids to get excited about college and begin to envision themselves going to college in their future,” Cataldo Pabich said. “Students who participate in Phuture Phoenix Day will walk away having spent a day in the life of a college student. They get to see first-hand what college is all about, and afterward, they can really picture themselves here. That creates a lot of excitement.”

More than 850 fifth-graders will be at UW-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, from 9:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday. An additional 475 will visit the campus from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday.

School districts involved in Phuture Phoenix are Green Bay, West De Pere, Oneida Nation, Bonduel, Bowler, Menominee Indian, Oconto, Oconto Falls, Sturgeon Bay and Suring.

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