Upward Bound (UB) at Boston University is a federally funded* college preparatory program for potential first-generation college and low-income Boston Public High School students. The program, which is a part of Boston University's Boston Public Schools Collaborative Office within the School of Education, serves 86 students who are recruited from either one of four target high schools or one of five target neighborhoods in Boston. The high schools served are Brighton High School, The English High School, Community Academy of Science and Health, and Snowden International High School at Copley. The target neighborhoods are Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Mattapan, and Roxbury. Students attending the target high schools are given priority in the admissions process.

Students are expected to remain with the program until their graduation from high school. Program services include an academically intensive six-week summer residential program and an afterschool program of tutoring and academic courses during the school year. Upward Bound services are located on the Boston University campus, which provides students with access to the University's resources. The program is free and students are paid a small stipend for their participation. Contact us at ub@bu.edu.

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*Upward Bound at Boston University is a federally funded TRIO program.

In the News

For gay teens, it still needs to get better
By Joseph P. Kahn
Boston Globe Staff / November 6, 2010

"Nick Lee-Diaz, 17, a senior honors student at Brighton, said antigay bias is pervasive enough for gay teens such as himself to regard coming out as risky. Still, he added, being out is often preferable to being suspected of homosexuality, which often leads to more overt teasing and ostracism."

Nick is a senior in the UB program.

Snowden High Valedictorian
Irma Dhimogjika (UB Class of 2010) was selected the 2010 valedictorian for the Muriel S. Snowden International School at Copley. She will attend Suffolk University in the fall.

Helping Inner-City Youth Dream Big
"For more than 20 years, Upward Bound at BU has broken down the barriers between underprivileged high school students and a university education." (Read the entire story featured in the BU School of Education publication, @SED.)

UB Tutor Honored for Dedicated Service

Rosemary Eger was honored with the Boston University Student Employee of the Year 2009 Award.  This award seeks to acknowledge a Boston University undergraduate student whose performance is exceptional.  Rosemary was nominated by the Upward Bound program due to her dedication, passion and hard work.  Rosemary has been a tutor for Upward Bound since June of 2008 and is currently working for the summer program in 2009.  She is the first student employee nominated by the Upward Bound program to have been honored with this award. The award was presented on April 15, 2009.

UB Senior Wins Local Civic Award

On April 16th, UB senior, Julio Ma Shum, was one of only five students from across Boston to win a Latino/a Student Cultural Center Civic Engagement Award.  This award was created to celebrate the many outstanding local high school students at the junior and senior level who have devoted their time to community service, extracurricular activities, & dedication to others.  Recipients of this award have incorporated community service into their daily lives either through their academic coursework and/or co-curricular activities.

UB Senior Awarded Posse Scholarship

On January 7th Boston University Upward Bound student Jermaine Ellis was awarded a Posse Scholarship, which is a four-year, full-tuition scholarship. He was among this year’s 50 Boston area recipients who were selected from an applicant pool of more than 1,000.  Jermaine will attend Denison University in Ohio. Jermaine, a student at Snowden International School, lives in Mission Hill and has been a participant of Upward Bound since his freshman year. He was nominated by the program for the scholarship. Since 2002, nine Upward Bound students have become Posse Boston scholars.  

The Posse Foundation identifies, recruits and trains student leaders from public high schools to form multicultural teams called “Posses.” These teams are then prepared, through an intensive eight-month Pre-Collegiate Training Program, for enrollment at top-tier universities nationwide to pursue their academics and to help promote cross-cultural communication on campus. These Scholars graduate at a rate of 90 percent and make a visible difference on campus and throughout their professional careers. Boston University recently became a University Partner with Posse Atlanta.