A List
11/4/02

SLU AWARDED GRANT TO IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL LITERACY

CANTON - St. Lawrence University has been awarded a grant from 
the Verizon Foundation, through the Independent College Fund of 
New York, Inc., to work with students in Canton and Lisbon high 
schools to improve literacy through theatre and technology.
	With assistance from the grant, for $12,000, participants 
will develop a program that teams University undergraduates with 
high school students identified as having deficiencies in reading, 
writing and speaking skills, in a collaborative effort to find 
creative solutions to literacy problems through theatre and 
technology. Students in St. Lawrence's education department will 
be involved in the program, with assistance from the Liberty 
Partnership Program of the Associated Colleges of the St. Lawrence 
Valley. In support of the project, St. Lawrence will provide 
approximately $10,700 in institutional resources as cost-sharing.
	Students in the education department at the University 
will serve as tutor-mentors to "at-risk" high school students 
in the Canton and Lisbon districts. The high school students 
will be encouraged to share the stories of how they learned to 
read, and their reflections on that process will be recorded on 
tape. The tapes will be transcribed and developed into texts, 
forming the basis for a theatrical script that will dramatically 
portray the students' personal literacy journeys. The project 
will culminate in performances of the script, by high school 
students and University students.
	The project coordinator is Victoria Rue, a part-time 
St. Lawrence faculty member in the religious studies and speech 
and theatre arts departments. 
	"I was extremely pleased to learn that the Verizon Foundation 
is providing this generous grant to the Independent College Fund 
of New York, sponsoring innovative partnership projects that will 
help address literacy challenges in underserved rural and urban 
areas," St. Lawrence University President Daniel F. Sullivan 
said. "This grant will serve as critical seed money, allowing 
us to try new and creative ways of building alliances that will 
have powerful learning outcomes."
	The Independent College Fund of New York, Inc., was founded 
in 1952 by a council of college presidents and corporate executives 
with the expressed purposes of advancing and of strengthening 
independent colleges and universities in New York State. The 
Fund's 28 member colleges (including St. Lawrence), located in 
all regions of New York State, are accredited by The Middle 
States Association and each college is governed by an autonomous 
board of trustees and receives its income primarily from private 
sources.
	The Verizon Foundation supports a variety of programs 
that focus on improving basic and computer literacy, bridging 
the digital divide, enriching communities through technology 
and creating a skilled work force. The foundation promotes 
partnerships in technology with organizations serving the needs 
of diverse communities, people with disabilities and the 
economically and socially disadvantaged.

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