Buffalo State Recognizes COE President, Students during Upward Bound Banquet

Ninety students from three Buffalo high schools just completed the academically focused Upward Bound residential program at Buffalo State. They will be recognized during the Upward Bound awards banquet on Thursday, August 11, at 7:00 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union Social Hall.

Maureen Hoyler, president of the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE), will give the keynote address during the banquet. COE is a nonprofit organization that provides professional development, program improvement, and advocacy for nearly 2,800 federally funded college opportunity programs at almost 1,000 colleges and universities nationwide.

For years Hoyler has been a voice for low-income, first-generation students, and individuals with disabilities. As president, she oversees management of the Washington office and the fiscal affairs of the association while serving as the primary liaison between the association and Congress.  

She also will receive the 2016 Hal Payne Educational Opportunity Lifetime Service Award, named in honor of Payne, Buffalo State’s vice president for student affairs.

“We created this award in 2013 to honor national, state, and local leaders who have demonstrated their commitment to advancing educational opportunity and the important mission that Upward Bound seeks to accomplish every day,” said Don Patterson, Buffalo State’s Upward Bound director. “Ms. Hoyler’s career-long leadership of the national TRIO community, her outspoken advocacy for policies and funding to strengthen TRIO and access programs, and her unwavering belief in the potential of individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds makes her a most worthy recipient of this award.”

One of eight federal TRIO Programs created for disadvantaged students, Buffalo State’s Upward Bound serves ninth-through-twelfth graders from Lafayette, McKinley, and East high schools during a six-week summer residence on campus. The students take core academic subjects taught by certified Buffalo public school teachers to better prepare for the upcoming school year as well for college. 

An impressive 90 percent of Upward Bound participants enroll in college after high school, including several who come to Buffalo State.

“What makes our program success is the dedicated staff that has a passion for helping others paired with the Buffalo State administrators who have high expectation for these students,” Patterson said.

Two of the students, Supo Aung and Say Ra Pa, both of whom graduated from McKinley High School in May, each received a $500 Hal D. Payne college scholarship funded by Carruba Collision.

In addition, Doris Noh, a Lafayette High School graduate and Gates Millennium Scholarship winner, will be named Outstanding Achiever, and Aaron McDowell, a 2010 Canisius College graduate who works for the Buffalo Police Department, will receive the Outstanding Upward Bound Alumni Award.

To learn more about Upward Bound, contact Patterson at (716) 878-3447 or by e-mail at patterda@buffalostate.edu.