College Bound

Ben’s Chili Bowl Foundation – Report Narrative

I. Progress towards Achieving Our Results

Through the support of the Ben’s Chili Bowl Foundation, College Bound continues to make an impact in the lives of the young people it serves. During the 2015-2016 academic year, 100% of College Bound’s graduating seniors applied to college, and were accepted. College Bound also continued to award internal scholarships to its graduates, giving over $150,000 to students through its College Bound Scholarship Program. We supported our seniors in identifying and applying for additional scholarships and this year they received hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional scholarships. These achievements show that the organization continues to successfully prepare District public and public charter high school students to graduate and matriculate to the institution of higher education of their choice.

Our annual events successfully engaged parents and students, and provided them with exposure to the college-going culture, career opportunities, test-taking skills and health and wellness options. Our Fall College Tour is held annually on Veterans Day. This past fall, College Bound loaded the bus with over 40 students to visit Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia State University.   Our Spring College Tour is held annually during spring break. This year’s spring college tour offered 48 students the chance to visit schools in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York. The college tour kicked off with a visit to Delaware State University and followed by tours of the Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University, Lincoln University, Barnard College, Columbia University, and Princeton University.

College Bound’s Taste of College Night provided 65 representatives, from 45 schools, to share information and insight with over 200 interested students and parents. The 17th Annual Career Night was hosted for over 100 students at two locations in March. At the University Club of Washington, 10th- 12th grade students explored a variety of career fields including: education, creative design, engineering, computer science, medicine, and sports engagement. A Financial Aid Workshop covering applying for federal financial aid through the FAFSA, as well as for institutional aid from universities, was offered to parents. THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR THIS EVENT WAS MR. KAMAL ALI. Students in the 8th-9th grade met at the University of the District of Columbia and learned about various careers to consider. The keynote speak for this event was Dr. Deborah Philp from the National Institute of Health. Finally, for the fifth year, College Bound’s Student Ambassadors ventured across the globe to participate in our annual International Study Tour (IST). This year, ten Student Ambassadors, travelled through Istanbul, Turkey to Ghana. Once in Ghana they explored the capital city of Kumasi, as well as the Ashanti kingdom (Kumasi) and the fishing villages and slave castles at Elmina and Cape Coast. While on the trip students captured their experiences through photographs and journaling. On February 9th, students invited the College Bound Family to Busboys & Poets to share their experiences and interactions with various tribes and the people they met on their journey.

New programs that support from the Ben’s Chili Bowl Foundation impacted included: the College Bound Math Lab which offered remediation and enrichment to students enrolled in math and physics on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at the College Bound office; College Bound Family Day where students, partners and parents from all six sites came together to celebrate the beginning of a great school year; Medi-Tech Tuesdays which exposed students to opportunities within the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields; and the Safe Sex Workshop, facilitated by Howard University Peer Health Educators which covered proper approaches to sexual health.