A senior tells her life story and experience with the Upward Bound program in hopes of getting funds for the non-profit.
HAYLEY LERCH
Staff Writer
Pepperdine senior Trinity Thorpe stood before the U.S. Senate last spring and delivered an address regarding her involvement with the Upward Bound program. Thorpe, who grew up in different foster homes and did not plan on attending college, has become involved with legislation regarding higher education for the underprivileged.
Thorpe attributes much of her success to the Upward Bound program, which provides after school tutoring, stipends based on GPA and summer sessions to low-income students.
“In fact, the majority of my accomplishments, my resume bullets you could say, would not exist if it weren’t for a program called Upward Bound,” she told the Senate committee in April.
Thorpe was born in New Mexico, lived with her mother in Wyoming and settled in Colorado by the time she was 13.
The seaside community of Malibu, is a long way from Thorpe’s home in Laramie, Colo.
“I have grown in terms of adjustment,” Thorpe said. “I was used to being around low-income students.”
Thorpe didn’t attend school regularly until eighth grade when she began living with her most recent foster family. Her foster mother urged her to take advantage of the tutoring offered by Upward Bound. Trinity’s GPA rose and she began taking honors courses.
“I always had wanted something more. I just didn’t have a way to access it until Upward Bound came into my life,” Thorpe said.
In the ninth grade, Thorpe began her involvement with the program. It provided her with much-needed academic guidance and gave her a social network. By her senior year, her adviser urged her to apply to 10 colleges. When she wasn’t accepted to her first choice school, Thorpe said she wasn’t sure if she should go to college.
“I felt that it was God who was telling me I wasn’t made out for college life,” Thorpe said.
After receiving a significant scholarship from Pepperdine, the Gates Millennium scholarship, and private awards, she was able to attend college.
Thorpe said she sees the obstacles she has overcome as evidence of her duty to be an advocate.
Thorpe went to Washington on a lobbying expedition with the Upward Bound program of the University of Wyoming prior to her April address.
The Council for Opportunity in Education, which is a non-profit organization that works with colleges and universities that host programs like Upward Bound, heard about Thorpe’s success with the Wyoming program. They invited her to speak at a Senate briefing in early April.
Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, asked the council to contact Thorpe about speaking before the Senate once again. This time, she gave her testimony as the Senate was considering the reauthorization of funding for educational programs, including Upward Bound.
Congress is still deciding how much funding should be given to the Upward Bound program.
Upward Bound is one of the TRIO programs, which are educational opportunity outreach programs designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds, included in the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA). The HEA allows for funding of student financial aid packages. It was scheduled to be reauthorized by Congress in 2004, but the legislation was temporarily extended. On Sept. 8, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions approved a bill to extend the HEA to the end of the year. The House passed a similar extension Sept. 21.
Congressional debates about the HEA continue due to the current budget deficit. The budget deficit has created pressure for politicians to balance the needs of underprivileged students with the need for budget cuts, according to David Lederman, writer for the online news source, Inside Higher Education.
The future of the HEA is uncertain, but Thorpe continues her involvement with equal opportunity education programs.
“I believe that everyone has a voice. It’s just that some people won’t listen to that voice,” she said.
This summer, Thorpe worked with the Upward Bound program in Wyoming, and this year she will attend two conferences related to education for foster children.
While at Pepperdine, Thorpe said she has grown the most in terms of her spirituality. Through the Young Life program, Thorpe helps with the spiritual development of Malibu High School students.
Her commitment to Jesus’ vision of love motivates her to represent the underprivileged, she said.
“I want to love people like he did and be a little more like Jesus everyday,” Thorpe said.
Thorpe said she will graduate this spring with a degree in psychology and plans to pursue a joint graduate degree in law and social work. She also said she hopes to run for national office so she can continue her involvement with legislation regarding low-income and foster-care students.
“I would never change my past because it defines who I am. It is my journey, it is my testimony to God,” Thorpe said.
11-01-2005