Rep. Owens to appear at TRIO Day event - 2010-02-18

Contact: Kenneth Aaron, Director of Communications, (518) 327-6297

U.S. Rep. Bill Owens will appear at a Paul Smith’s College luncheon marking National TRiO Day on Friday, Feb. 19, from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The federally funded TRiO program helps low-income and first-generation college students, as well as students with disabilities, attend and graduate college. More than 2,800 TRiO projects are active in the United States.

This year's TRiO Day celebration at Paul Smith’s includes a local food luncheon and a focus on study abroad experiences of project participants.

The college's Student Support Services (SSS) program, which is part of TRiO, was launched in 2005. Since that time, 245 scholarships worth $180,000 have been awarded to Paul Smith’s students; this year, 40 students have received grants worth $54,000. The program has been instrumental in helping many of those students remain in college and graduate.

This is the fifth year that the college will mark TRiO Day. In addition to scholarships, the program also provides professional tutoring, counseling and advising; peer mentoring for first-year students; cultural enrichment field trips; and other outreach.

National TRiO Day celebrations often include a day of service. At Paul Smith’s, the TRiO program has been collecting surplus educational materials this semester for the North Country Mission of Hope.

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