ATTENTION: Higher Education and K-12 Reporters

11 June 2001
Contact: Janet Gilmore
(510) 642-5685

WHAT:
An awards ceremony honoring 20 Southern California high school students who have overcome disadvantaged backgrounds and are emerging as community leaders and top scholars. Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan will be the keynote speaker.

These students - from high schools in East Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, downtown Los Angeles and elsewhere - are the first to participate in an intensive two-year academic prep program run by the University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and L.A. area community organizations.

Of the 20 students who participated in the program, 17 have been admitted to UC Berkeley and offered a $28,000 four-year scholarship to the campus.

WHEN:
Thursday, June 14. A reception will be held at 6 p.m., a dinner program at 7.

WHERE:
The Regal Biltmore Hotel, 506 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. The reception will be in the Tiffany Room, the dinner program in the Crystal Ballroom.

WHO:
The 20 LAUSD high school seniors and their families; LAUSD educators and school board members; Los Angeles-based businesses, community organizations and individuals who provided internships and financial support for the program; Mayor Riordan.

BACKGROUND:
UC Berkeley's Incentive Awards Pre-collegiate Academy is a two-year program that provides students with intensive academic preparation, year-round mentoring, leadership training, community service experience and the opportunity to gain full scholarships to UC Berkeley. Students spend six weeks at UC Berkeley as part of an academic boot camp. Their next summer is spent performing community service with organizations such as the Sierra Club, Children's Hospital and the American Civil Liberties Union. This new Southern California program is an expansion of the Incentive Awards program that UC Berkeley started for Northern California high school students 10 years ago.