Baylor master’s student Jordan Barlow, BSED ’15, witnessed first-hand the academic benefits and life-changing effects of Baylor’s University for Young People [UYP], a summer program for gifted students in grades 4-12.

“One of our little girls told us she was so happy she took this math class,” Barlow said. “She took the class because she’s usually better in science and she knew she wasn’t as great at math, and she wanted to challenge herself. Now she loves math.”

After working at UYP for three summers, Barlow is not surprised by positive feedback about the transformative influence of the program. Barlow’s experiences working as a mentor and a teacher in the program were so significant that her parents felt moved to donate to UYP two summers in a row — providing the opportunity for more students to participate in the program than before.

“It’s solely about relationship building and being somebody for students,” Barlow said. “It’s crazy to me, because you see them [students] for three weeks in the summer and then you’re not going to see them again until the next year. But it’s a huge impact on the kids.”

The summer day enrichment program is available for students from home school, private school and public schools. All participants must be identified as gifted by their local school district and/or a UYP alternative identification process. Students choose courses and sessions based on their interests, such as classes relating to STEM, fine arts, liberal arts and life-skills.

Within UYP are Project Promise students. Identified as gifted and meeting HUD Federal low-income eligibility requirements (HUD, 2014), these Waco ISD students receive annual scholarships to attend UYP throughout its three-week duration — funded in 2016 by a City of Waco Community Development Block Grant and a grant from Independent Bank. Project Promise students are mixed into groups with tuition-paying students throughout the classes. One-third or more of students who attend UYP are Project Promise students.

According to Corina Kaul, doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Psychology in Baylor’s School of Education, new research reveals one of the most influential aspects of Project Promise is the role of mentors. Mentors serve as companions and role models for students. They accompany groups of children to classes and foster a safe environment for small group discussion, where students keep individual journals daily. It was during Barlow’s time working as a mentor that her parents were deeply impressed by UYP, and especially Project Promise.

In 2015, the second year of Barlow’s participation as a mentor, she told her parents about a Project Promise student who was unable to return because the federal grant could not cover her tuition. After witnessing the impact UYP had on their own daughter’s life, Chuck Barlow and his wife, Deleslynn Barlow, decided to pay tuition for that student.

“UYP seemed to be a great place where we could send our money, have a really strong impact, and have a lot of confidence that the people who are running the program have their heart in the right place,” Mr. Barlow said.

In the following summer of 2016, Mr. and Mrs. Barlow made another generous donation, covering the tuition of 10 Project Promise students. The impact of this gift far exceeds academic knowledge obtained by those students through classes. Research over the long-term effects of UYP on former Project Promise students, aged 18 to 28 years old at the time of the study, with attendance records of three or more years in UYP, showed 100 percent success rate of high school graduation. Almost all students within the study either planned to, or already enrolled in, higher education.

“Interestingly, Project Promise participants indicated that it was not the courses, but the relationships with peers, instructors and mentors that had the strongest impact,” Kaul said. “High expectations from these people motivated academic achievement.”

Mr. Barlow said, “If you’re talking about a talented child becoming an academic success, you may be bringing a whole family, or a whole generation, out of poverty.”

For Barlow, her time as a mentor and teacher deeply impacted her heart for children. While she pursued the path of teaching throughout her entire college career, the practical application through UYP strengthened her passion. The influence of UYP, as Barlow experienced, can spread beyond students to mentors and even affect the lives of people watching the program.

—By Molly Meeker

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