Gettysburg College was honored in May by the CollegeBound Initiative (CBI), a college access program serving nearly 9,000 low-income students in more than a dozen New York City public high schools, at an event in New York.

CBI places full-time college counselors in high-need schools to guide and support every student in the college awareness and application process. Gettysburg College was CBI’s first college partner. CBI students are primarily African-American, Latino, and first-generation-to-college; by partnering with Gettysburg, these students are exposed to the College’s high academic standards through dedicated outreach.

At the event, President Janet Morgan Riggs ’77 accepted the recognition on behalf of the College.

“The relationship that Gettysburg has with CBI is an important one. It’s about increasing the accessibility of excellent higher education opportunities for young people who might not otherwise have that opportunity. And it’s about helping young people to realize their potential, something that we are deeply committed to at Gettysburg College,” Riggs said.

Since the partnership began in 2004, the College has enrolled 63 CBI students and hosted more than 700 prospective students on campus. This partnership has served as a model for selective new institutions including Cornell University, University of Rochester and 7 others.

Senait Weldemariam, who will be a first-year student this fall in the Class of 2016 at Gettysburg College, was recognized at the event in a video tribute (above).

MSNBC's The Last Word recently shared Senait's story during their Rewrite segment. Watch the video.

CBI graduates achieve four-year college degrees at more than double the rate of their peers. The program is affiliated with the Young Women’s Leadership Network (YWLN), a non-profit educational organization that empowers young men and women to realize their educational potential.

Since 2007, Gettysburg College has been the host for CollegeBound Summer Institute, a 3-day intensive college preparation workshop for rising seniors. The annual collaborative effort brings students from New York City to the campus and exposes them to college life, introduces them to professors, and provides them with an opportunity to complete key aspects of the application process.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition. Alumni include Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate, and other distinguished scholars. The college, which enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students, is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Contact: Kendra Martin, director of communications & media relations