A Summer That Can Change Your Life: A History of the Educational Opportunity Program at Central Connecticut State University

by C.J. Jones, Tom Hazuka

Overview

As of the 2017-2018 academic year, more than 2,000 students have participated in the Educational Opportunity Program at Central Connecticut State University. Thousands more have been part of similar programs at other Connecticut colleges, including Southern and Eastern Connecticut State Universities, and Wesleyan University. This book is a celebration of all those students. Fifty years after the program was created at CCSU, the students who have passed through its doors—largely first-generation college students from minority populations—are a testament to how far the program has come since its early days, when its mission was often called into question. The histories chronicled herein shed light on a program that has achieved a lasting, generational impact, and which, over the course of successive summers, has indeed changed thousands of lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781949116045
Publisher:	Woodhall Press
Publication date:	06/22/2018
Edition description:	First edition
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.41(d)

About the Author

C. J. Jones is a true CCSU Blue Devil. “99½% Won’t Do” has been his mantra while earning a B.A. and M.A. at Central, and serving the university as a basketball coach, director of the Educational Opportunity Program, and director of athletics. He was inducted into the CCSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010. He is also the author of A Method to March Madness: An Insider’s Look at the Final Four, written in collaboration with Tom Hazuka.

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction................................................................................................................................................ vii

“The Golden Opportunity”.......................................................................................................1

The Early Years.........................................................................................................................................10

The EOP Staff............................................................................................................................................20

The Students: How They Got to EOP and Where They Are Now...........................................................................................39

In Their Own Words:

Testimonials from EOP Graduates..............................................................51

EOP Funding..............................................................................................................................................81

Bumps in the Road............................................................................................................................89

The Next Generation:

Letters from Children of EOP Graduates...........................................96

Graduation................................................................................................................................................118

Cultural Events Attended by EOP Students.............................................122

EOP Athletes...........................................................................................................................................124

Other EOP-Style Programs in Connecticut...............................................128

A Summary of Academic Research on EOP-Style Programs.............................................................................................142