A new program intended to show talented, low-income high school students the path into college will be at Harvard for the first time this summer, making the University just the second site in the country to host the Quest Scholars Program.

"There's a lot of need in the area," said Dana Gavrieli, the Quest Scholars' director at Harvard. "The amazing mentors here at Harvard make it a natural place to host the East Coast chapter of the program."

The Quest Scholars Program will bring 22 high school juniors from up and down the East Coast to Harvard from July 15 to Aug. 20. Once here, they will live on campus, attend lectures by Harvard faculty members and talks by area business leaders, and take part in a variety of self-awareness exercises, aided by counselors drawn from the ranks of Harvard undergraduates. "They're extremely bright, extremely disadvantaged, and come into the program with a tremendous hunger to succeed," said Dari Shalon, director of the Center for Genomics Research at Harvard and a supporter of the Quest Scholars' expansion to Harvard. "They're essentially being brought in so we can demonstrate to them that a first-rate college education is well within their reach."

The program is modeled after a Stanford University program begun six years ago by two former Stanford students. That program's success is indicated by the fact that every program participant has been accepted to a top university, including Stanford, Harvard, the University of California at Berkeley, and Brown University, Gavrieli said. Organizers say they plan to continue expanding the program nationwide with the aim of making it the high-school equivalent of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship program, which provides top college graduates a chance to study at the University of Oxford in England.

Gavrieli said she expects that of the 15,000 personalized applications to be mailed out, 1,000 students from high schools all along the East Coast will apply for the program. About 300 of those will be brought in for exhaustive interviews. A total of 22 participants will be selected. A special emphasis will be made to recruit from the Boston area, she said.

The program, which is privately funded and free for the students, will involve approximately 140 paid counselors, volunteer lecturers, and local professionals who will act as mentors. Gavrieli said she is in the process of hiring staff and has already selected several undergraduates and graduate students to work as counselors.

The Quest Scholars curriculum consists of four main parts:

• Academics will be addressed in lectures by Harvard faculty who will provide overviews of different areas of study at Harvard. In addition to the lectures, the students will take part in hands-on experiments and group projects.
• Public Service will be encouraged by requiring students to design a public service project they will implement at home after the program concludes.
• Inner Growth will be encouraged during regular "reflection time" set aside every few days. There will also be meditation times, poetry readings every night at dinner, and time set aside to engage in art projects. "Our goal is to educate these future leaders of our society and direct them toward public service," Gavrieli said. "Most of them wouldn't even think of applying to Harvard and Stanford. They wouldn't think they could afford it and are unaware of the financial aid programs that exist."
• Personal Development will be provided through leadership discussions, training in public speaking, reading classes, and workshops on taking the SAT.

Gavrieli knows about the program's success firsthand she was a participant in 1995. She was always a hard-working student, she said, but spoke very little English when her family immigrated to California from Israel, so adjusting to life here was difficult. "Participation in the program was definitely a turning point in my life," she said. "It was my first time in such a stimulating, inspiring, and enriching environment. I learned how to lead and what to lead toward. It gave me a lot of confidence and a focus in life."

Gavrieli said she came out of the program wanting to help others. She continued her involvement with the Quest Scholars, working as a counselor. She was thrilled at the chance to open the Harvard branch, even though it meant taking a leave of absence from the University of California at Berkeley before her junior year. "We want to give these kids the confidence they need to believe in themselves and go after their goals," Gavrieli said.

For more information, call Gavrieli at 496-5649, e-mail her at gavrieli@fas.harvard.edu.

Copyright 1999 President and Fellows of Harvard College