The Young Owls Leadership Program is a 1-week residential summer program dedicated to preparing HISD high school students to apply to college. Our curriculum is centered around the college application process, and is focused on developing both leadership and personal skills.
Some of the residential program activities include workshops covering financial aid, essay-writing, public speaking, social etiquette, team-building, resume-writing, STEM fields, career paths, and more. To give accepted students an authentic college-life experience, students stay overnight in campus dorms, have a roommate, eat at campus dining halls, and attend lectures in campus classrooms. Students have the opportunity to meet university professors by attending mock lectures and laboratory tours given by Rice faculty.
The organization of our program is heavily based on Rice University’s Orientation Week, a program that eases the transition of students from high school to college. Through this model, accepted Young Owls (students) are assigned to small groups of 10 students maximum, guided by 3 of our college student Advisors during all parts of the program. Advisors come from a variety of academic disciplines, racial and ethnic backgrounds, hometowns, and colleges. This model allows Young Owls to get to know and trust multiple college students on a personal level.
Our Advisors selection process is highly selective, based on their ability to serve as strong role models to Young Owls both during and after the residential program ends. Young Owls and Advisors meet several times during the academic year to reunite and check on their progress in the college application process.