Because the Lowe Family Young Scholars Program seeks to assist academically promising students in the Bartlesville Public School system to earn a college degree, it provides a variety of services to their students to ensure success.
One of these services is ACT support, which is offered through grants provided by Sarkey's Foundation and the Bartlesville Community Foundation's Service League grants. Acceptable ACT scores are required for students to be accepted into our partner universities (Oklahoma Wesleyan, Oklahoma State University and Rogers State University). Also, the better a student does on the ACT, the more scholarship opportunities are available.
The ACT support provided to LFYS students come in the form of approved calculators, preparation books and software, and payment of tests. In addition to these services, one of the LFYS mentors, Steve Marshall, provided an ACT Prep class specifically designed for LFYS students who planned on taking the ACT test in October 2018.
Working with these students on a weekly basis for two months prior to the test, Marshall honed in on troubling test questions, worked with students to comprehend test language, and instructed students on how to allocate appropriate test time.
The student outcomes speak for themselves. Below is a chart showing LFYS student ACT averages compared to state and other Bartlesville Public School students' averages for the past few years.
ACT Averages
| 2018 LFYS Grads | 23.25 |
| 2018 BHS Grads | 21.1 |
| 2018 State Grads | 19.3 |
| 2019 LFYS Grads | 25.88 |
| 2019 BHS Grads | 20.8 |
| 2019 State Grads | 19.4 |
As you can see, after the ACT Prep class, and thanks to Marshall's instruction and dedication, the 2019 LFYS scores jumped significantly.
In addition to ACT preparation, students attend classes that teach program values, job-related skills (taught by the Westside Community Center), and finance (taught by Truity Credit Union through the coordination efforts of Rona Shoopack).
Thanks to Jane Phillips Society and Bartlesville Community Foundation's Legacy Hall of Fame grants, students are provided with the needed funds to attend concurrent classes - providing students access to college credits before their freshman year of college! Students who take concurrent classes have a 20 percent higher college graduation rate than those who do not.
Another community-funded project, thanks to Bartlesville Rotary Club, is the providing of science fair project supplies for all LFYS students.
As you can see, the LFYS Program does everything possible to remove obstacles for student success through college completion. If you know students who are academically focused, yet need additional support and guidance to assist with the daunting college journey, please encourage them to apply in grades six through 10 to the LFYS Program.
Students are matched with a mentor through the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma organization to provide even yet another layer of support. Students who successfully complete the LFYS Program receive a 4-year scholarship valued at $8,000-$16,000.
The 2019 application period opens for the LFYS Program on Jan. 1. Applications must be received in the LFYS office before March 31. Note that March 31 is a Sunday, so applications should be sent well in advance of this deadline! Applications are available online at bit.ly/lfysapply. For more information about the LFYS Program, please visit www.loweyoungscholar.org.
Published Wednesday, November 28, 2018 on the Examiner Enterprise