By Tom Ganser
Ramon R. Ortiz, Jr., was the featured speaker at the July 22 meeting of the Whitewater Rotary Club at the Whitewater Country Club.
Ortiz, Executive Director of Pre-College Programs at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, provided an overview of several programs aimed at middle school and high school students including the schools of Hamilton, South Division and Vincent in Milwaukee and Case and Horlick in Racine.
He received his bachelors and masters degrees from UW-W and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.
During the July 22 meeting, Ortiz highlighted three interrelated programs, beginning with the Upward Bound program that currently serves 68 students, about half of whom are likely to attend UW-Whitewater.
Ortiz himself is a product of the UWW Upward Bound program.
He described five academic camps are offered during the summer, including two for middle school students and three for high school students focusing on the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields, preparation for the ACT test and one on writing and research for high school graduates about to begin college.
During the academic year, “Saturday College” meetings are offered almost monthly, covering topics like test taking skills, literacy and financial literacy.
Ortiz emphasized that for many of the students served by the Pre-College Programs, the first goal is to plant in their heads the “idea of going to college as a possibility.”
“Getting them to see that it’s possible,” Ortiz added, “and seeing there’s a payback.”
