TRIO Offers Support Services For First-Generation College Students

When Lucwilerna Raymond moved from Haiti to the United States four years ago, she was hesitant to speak up in large groups because of her accent. 

That all changed when she came to North Campus and joined TRIO Student Support Services, a federally-funded program that helps first-generation and low-income students assimilate to college life.

This past year, Raymond used her voice as a student leader, mentoring and tutoring 28 other TRIO students.

She graduated in May with an associate’s degree in biology from the North Campus Honors College and has been accepted to the University of Miami and the Honors Program at Florida International University.

“[TRIO] pushes you to use your capabilities,” Raymond said.

The program, founded in 1968, is an amendment to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Higher Education Act. Its goal is to strengthen educational resources and provide financial assistance to students. It consists of three outreach programs—Student Support Services for college students, Upward Bound for high school and Talent Search for middle school.

Students in the cohort receive peer mentoring, take educational field trips and participate in career and life skills seminars. With a 75 percent transfer rate, TRIO serves more than 300 students at the North and Homestead campuses and the Carrie P. Meek Entrepreneurial Education Center.

Additional features include tutoring services in math, statistics, English, biology, chemistry and physiology. The program also offers seminars featuring prominent alumni who share their experiences in areas like nursing, law enforcement, financial literacy and academic preparation. 

North Campus students who are part of TRIO are paired with a peer mentor who tutors them,  checks in on their progress and guides them through issues. The Homestead Campus has student assistants—students that work at TRIO who receive people at the office and call students to see if they have any questions or issues.

Before the pandemic, TRIO students traveled across the state to visit potential transfer institutions such as Florida State University, the University of Central Florida and Florida Atlantic University. The program paid for the trip and gave students a stipend for meals. 

“[The college tour] was great,” said North Campus journalism student Khari Cooper. “We went through the whole Coast visiting a range of universities through South Florida, Central Florida and Tallahassee.” 

Due to COVID-19 concerns, this year’s college tour will be virtual.

The program has also previously hosted Open Mic Nights at North Campus. The event allows students to gather for a meal, sing and sometimes win prizes. A similar event is in the works for this summer. 

Homestead Campus’ TRIO program is hoping to host the Get It Started, Get It Done event later this semester—in-person—to allow students to connect and meet staff and faculty at the campus after a year of virtual communication. 

“We want to provide [students] with the best performance, so we’ve tried to create a very holistic program,” said Carlton Daley, who has served as North Campus’s TRIO Program Director since 2006.

Throughout the years, the program has spawned a long list of success stories. TRIO alumni include Kenisha Anthony, who published a memoir about her 13 years in the foster care system, and Quran Howard, who was once homeless and a college dropout and is transferring to Howard University this fall. There are also several students from the program who have earned full-ride scholarships to Tuskegee University, a historically Black college in Alabama. 

To be eligible for TRIO, students must be United States citizens or permanent residents seeking a degree at Miami Dade College. They must also be first-generation in college, economically disadvantaged or demonstrate a documented disability. 

In addition, students at the North Campus and Meek Center must sign a commitment form, complete a 250-word essay and fill out an academic success plan that details their career goals and what they hope to accomplish. 

“We’re that additional layer of support, kind of like a central hub,” said Yilian Fraga, who became TRIO’s Homestead Campus Program Director in 2018. “Always working with and for the student with the rest of the teams at the College to help students uniquely succeed.”

Applications for the TRIO program can be found online. This is the form for North Campus students and this is the form for Homestead Campus students. For more information, call (305) 237-1333 at North Campus or (305) 237-5180 at Homestead Campus.