On Tuesday March 27 fellow EOP students of SUNY Oswego participated in Advocacy Day in Albany N.Y. Students attended meetings with legislatures and senators to discuss issues and topics regarding the EOP program.
The purpose of Advocacy Day is for students to educate legislators on what it means to be apart of the EOP program and the funding behind it. The students also discussed why the program deserved an increase in budget and continuous recognition.
Some background on the EOP program: It is a program that is supported by New York State. The program provides access, academic support, and financial aid to those students who show the ability to excel in college level courses. The program starts off with a mandatory four-week program during the summer. Students partake in college courses and learn new things about the college experience before attending school in August.
During each academic year students are provided with financial support for books, supplies, and on campus living. Priority for entry into the program is given to students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Each student had their own story and experiences to back up their reasoning behind funding for the program and information about the EOP program in general. Their main reasoning’s were more students applying to the program who were eligible are being turned down due to limited spots.
Although funding was the main concern coming into this program, students were informed by legislators that funding for the EOP program would receive no cut backs and that there was a slight increase in the program.
One of the students, Luis Escoboza, asked legislator Vivian Cook her opinion on the EOP program. “Well, what does EOP mean, what is it all about?” Asked legislator Vivien Cook. At that point students knew she was testing them on their knowledge of the program.
After each of the three students responded to legislator Vivian Cook, she looked over to the director of the EOP program, Elyzabeth Wengart and asked, “Where did you find them?”
Elyzabeth responded by stating facts about how there were other students out there who were just as bright as them. However, over 2,000 were turned down from the EOP program due to only 75 being allowed acceptance for the upcoming fall academic year. An issue then arises that some students are being denied an education and turned down from SUNY universities across New York.
Another student, Fathama Ahmed, was sure to give her point of view while Senator John Defrancisco gave his opinion on how students always blame education for not motivating them. Defrancisco spoke about how students tend to be “lazy” during their senior year and do not take the same amount of class load as the previous years of high school. This then led to him stating how remedial classes should be cut from college institutions. Therefore affecting the EOP program in a way that cuts other courses from the summer program making it more difficult to be accepted.
“Well I had a full schedule my senior year because I wanted to take AP courses which was similar to my junior year”, said fellow Oswego EOP student Fathama Ahmed in response. Furthermore his response was a face full of shock and seemed more impressed with the whole EOP program.
While visiting a legislator’s director, Amy Class, students were asked to tell her a little bit about themselves and EOP.
After students talked about their majors and involvement on campus Luis Escoboza spoke up about his concerns for the program.
“I have many friends back home whom want to go to college but may not be accepted into the program due to limited spots.”
Amy Class seemed to be moved by this response and began to give the students advice on how to advocate to higher power senators about the funding issue for the program. Amy Class also stated how crucial it would be for the students to actually have senator’s experience the EOP summer program for themselves at their school. Students happily took the advice and are now planning on hopefully inviting a senator to the summer program for a day.
Each student developed a more understanding about the politics behind funding of programs and also learned they could make an affect on people’s choices. The student’s definitely agreed that there was an impact that they left on certain legislators.
Students from the Education 204 class each came into this event expecting one thing and gained more experience then expected. EOP is definitely a program that was supported by almost all the legislators and senators encountered during Advocacy Day. It is something each student desires to experience again. The students and their director developed a goal to bring 54 students to next years Advocacy Day.