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LaPREP Receives Grant
Submitted: 07/22/09
LaPREP, a two-summer math and science enrichment program for middle and early high school students, has been awarded a grant in the amount of $65,647 from The Community Foundation of Shreveport-Bossier – Eugenie Torr Gras and Justin Gras Fund. The grant will allow LaPREP to continue the program into 2010 which was questionable after a veto by Governor Bobby Jindal cut $250,000 earmarked for the program in the 2009-2010 state budget.
"I am extremely excited," said Dr. Carlos Spaht, director of LaPREP and professor of mathematics at LSUS. "This means that LaPREP is alive! We still need more money to continue with all the expansion efforts that we began this year, but we are going forward in anticipation that it will come."
LaPREP is a two-summer enrichment program which identifies, encourages, and instructs competent middle and early high school students, preparing them to complete a college degree program, in math, science or engineering. With emphasis on abstract reasoning, problem solving and technical writing skills, participants attend seven weeks of intellectually-demanding classes and seminars, interspersed with field trips and recreation. Class assignments, laboratory projects and scheduled exams are integral parts of LaPREP. Second-year participants are also presented with an additional seminar, Financial Independence for Life, which presents a curriculum of personal financial topics that enable students to begin a journey toward financial freedom.
Other current funding for LaPREP includes grants from The Grayson Foundation and The Governor's Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program.
For his work with LaPREP, Dr. Spaht was awarded the 2007 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.