At Stony Brook, the Future Scholars initiative is preparing first-generation Long Island students for college

Ana Pineda has big dreams.

The 13-year-old, an eighth grader at Southampton Intermediate School, hopes to become the first person in her family to graduate college. Ultimately, she would like to be a child psychologist or pediatrician.

“I've learned that I'm a really empathetic person and I'm very compassionate towards others,” Ana said. “I try to be there for everybody.”

But for first-generation students like Ana, the path to college and beyond is not always clear. While 54% of all undergraduates in the United States are the first in their family to attend college, only 24% ultimately earn their degree in six years compared with the 59% of students whose parents also attended college, according to the advocacy organization FirstGen Forward. The Washington, D.C.-based organization says financial barriers and lack of academic support are in part to blame.

A new program launched by Stony Brook University wants to help bridge that gap. The five-year initiative, called Future Scholars, is designed to support students from five East End school districts starting in eighth grade through high school graduation. The students, mostly first-generation and from lower-income families, receive mentorship, academic enrichment and college readiness resources during that time.

Students could also be eligible to have their college expenses covered after state and federal financial assistance is exhausted, program officials said.

"The primary goal is to create pathways for students who might be from underrepresented or economically disadvantaged backgrounds," Bridgehampton schools Superintendent Mary Kelly told Newsday. "[It] identifies a pathway for them so that they could be successful in higher education."

New Jersey roots

Future Scholars is modeled after a similar program founded in 2008 at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Since that initiative began, more than 3,500 students from five New Jersey communities have completed the program. At its peak, the high school graduation rate for those students was 99%. Nearly 90% have enrolled in college and 70% have graduated within six years, according to Rutgers.

In addition to helping high school students reach college, the program also assists students during their undergraduate years with test preparation and career planning. 

"It empowers them to think differently about what they can achieve," director Kim Williams said. "We give them the tools and the resources to do that."

The program has since expanded to several other colleges, including the University of Toronto, Louisiana State University and Temple University in Philadelphia.

On Long Island, the first cohort of Future Scholars comprises 100 students from the Riverhead, Bridgehampton, Tuckahoe, Southampton and Hampton Bays school districts.

Students are expected to attend once-monthly sessions with Stony Brook staff, faculty and student volunteers at the university's Southampton campus.

"A lot of our curriculum is going to be focused on giving students the opportunity to be able to participate in college-level courses, be able to interact with faculty, and staff and administrators, [and] be able to visit a college campus and see what a university is like, while also developing their leadership skills," said Stephanie Nuñez, the program's director, who is also a first-generation student.

Judi Brown Clarke, Stony Brook’s vice president for equity and inclusion and chief health equity officer, told Newsday the program also tries to show students what careers are available to them and how they can chart a path toward achieving their dreams.

"So what we do — and we're working with the families, too — is to expose them to, how do you fill out the application? What school would I go to? What kind of grades and what courses should I be taking?" Brown Clark said.

New experiences and newfound confidence

On a recent Saturday morning, Hampton Bays eighth grader Leo Ferrufino Guillen, 13, was among a small group gathered in a classroom for a physics lesson.

Using a cup of water and string, Stony Brook college students demonstrated how centripetal and centrifugal forces caused the liquid to remain in the container even as it was spun faster and faster.

Toward the end of the lesson, Leo got an opportunity to test out what he had learned. He spun the cup, half-filled with water, counterclockwise. But the motion was a little too fast, causing the cup to break off the string and crash into the wall.

The students chuckled. Leo seemed unphased: Though the outcome was not ideal, he said overall he enjoyed the lesson.

"I think physics was really interesting," he said as he walked out of the classroom.

The brief lesson was a small part of a morning full of activities, during which the middle school students also got a lesson on how the brain works, how to take a patient's vital signs and how to use small dental mirrors to examine a patient's mouth, among other exercises. 

Leo said the program gives him an opportunity to try new things, learn about Stony Brook and meet kids from other schools.

"I’ve been getting added on Snapchat from a lot of people," he said.

The program has drawn praise from local school officials. 

Future Scholars helps open the door for students who might not otherwise envision themselves in college, said Kelly, the Bridgehampton superintendent.

"The other thing that I think is really beneficial for our kids is that they are meeting with their peers ... from different communities along the East End," she said. "And so it's expanding their peer network as well and allowing them to have rich conversations with them."

In Hampton Bays, 21 students are attending the program, school officials said. Diane Fox, director of bilingual and alternative education, said it helps build students' self-confidence.

Ana, the Southampton student who dreams of becoming a child psychologist or pediatrician, said in the few months since the program started she has improved her communication skills and learned more about her own talents and interests.

Her counselor, Jalai Duroseau, said he has been pleasantly surprised to see the teen take on a leadership role in the program.

"I’ve seen her come out of her shell," Duroseau said. "It's been really nice to see that growth ... that character, that leadership skill really developed early."