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The College Assistance Migrant Program is a program that financially
and academically supports first-generation migrant college students.
Arthur Campa, an anthropology professor at Metro, is the director
of this program.
He said one of the main goals of the program is retention and that
currently, the retention rate for CAMP students is around 80 percent.
Most of the CAMP students are Latino, but being a certain ethnicity
is not a program requirement.
Among the qualifications for this program are that the students must
have a GED or high school diploma and for the student or their parents
to have worked a minimum of 75 days of farm work over the last 24
months.
These students also have to be first-generation college students.
Students who meet all the qualifications for the program will have
their first 30 credits at Metro paid for, as well as their health
insurance and application fee costs.
They also receive a monthly stipend of up to $200 to help cover housing
expenses. This funding is supported by a federal grant from the U.S.
Department of Education.
Campa attributed this quote to Luis Torres, chair of the Chicano
Studies Department; “These students bring to Metro the work
ethic from the fields. It’s a very strong work ethic, and when
it’s transferred to school, that’s why so many of them
(the programs students) do well.”
Students graduate from the CAMP program at the end of a successfully
completed freshman year. At that point, the student no longer has
financial support from the program.
CAMP provides services that encourage and help these program graduates
find scholarships to help offset the cost of completing their degree.
“The program provides opportunity for the most unrepresented
group in the United States today — farm workers,” Campa
said. “It gives them opportunity. It opens doors.”
Campa said that one CAMP graduate is now a major TV reporter in Chicago.
He said another student who began at Metro is now completing his
undergraduate degree at Cornell University on a full scholarship.
“These were students who were told by their hometown counselors
they would make good blue-collar workers,” Campa said. “Their
high schools have failed them. That’s happening very often.”
The program has a monthly activity for the parents and friends of
CAMP participants. This month it is at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 31 in Tivoli
Room 444.
This monthly activity gives people a chance to see what the program
is about. The last event the program hosted drew about 80 people and
included a potluck, games and a raffle.
“I would like to see more faculty involved in mentoring and
other activities,” Campa said.
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