First-year Student Has Background of 'Firsts'

You might say Tiesa McElroy is a pioneer of sorts.

A first-year Knox College student from Seattle, Washington, she was one of the first schoolchildren in that state to be chosen for the selective Rainier Scholars Program.

"We're the guinea pigs," McElroy, who also is the first from the group to attend Knox, said with a laugh.

Washington's nine-year-old Rainier Scholars Program is similar in many ways to the George Washington Gale Scholars Program, created in 1996 by Knox College, Carl Sandburg College, and Galesburg School District 205.

By developing years-long relationships with academically promising students, both programs aim to clear obstacles that might otherwise prevent those students from attending and completing college. The programs help the chosen students to realize their full potential as scholars and future leaders by providing them with academic support, mentoring, and other opportunities.

Students who are picked as Rainier Scholars or Gale Scholars come from low-income backgrounds, racially or ethnically diverse backgrounds, or they would be the first generation of their families to go to college.

"We identify kids early who have the desire and the drive, but not necessarily the infrastructure and support, to fulfill their college dreams," said Sarah Smith, the Rainier program's associate executive director.

Rainier Scholars are identified in the fifth grade, with about 60 chosen each year. In addition to academic support and mentoring, they complete leadership courses and summer internships at various companies. McElroy has worked as an intern at Microsoft and Alaska Airlines.

She said the Rainier experience has expanded her horizons.

"I wouldn't say that the program opens the doors for you, because it's up to you to persevere," she said. "But it definitely showed me many different doors and many different opportunities."

"The thing that's most important to me is I don't look at it as just a program," she added. "I look at all the staff and all the faculty and students, even the younger (students) I haven't had a chance to meet yet, and I feel like we're all a family."

She believes she would have pursued higher education even without the program, though she might not have opted for Knox - a place she chose because it fits her learning style.

"I'm used to small classes, a lot of teacher-student interaction, where the professors or the teachers actually know who their students are," she said. "It's a plus. If you ever need help, you can talk to them. I wanted something that was like that."

Like most first-year students at Knox College, McElroy has not yet declared a major. She believes that despite being more than 1,500 miles from home, she is adjusting well to life at Knox.

"I feel like the transition is going pretty smoothly," she said.

"One of the things I wanted to do coming into Knox was to be more involved with the school," she added. "I went to my first ABLE (Allied Blacks for Liberty and Equality) meeting a few weeks ago."

"The more I'm getting involved," McElroy continued, "the more I'm liking it, the more I'm meeting people, and the more I'm enjoying myself."

Students are inducted to the Gale Scholars program as eighth-graders, and they receive a free college education if they maintain good grades, perform community service, and meet other requirements. Upon successful completion of high school, they are awarded a two-year tuition waiver to Carl Sandburg College. When they successfully graduate from CSC, they are awarded a two-year tuition waiver to Knox College.

Sixteen students were introduced as the newest George Washington Gale Scholars during a May ceremony at the George Washington Gale House, built in 1840 by the founder of Knox College.