LEAP Summer Scholars Program Receives National Honors and Grant

	LEAP Summer Scholars in lab.

The Louisiana Engineering Advancement Program's (LEAP) Summer Scholars Program (SSP) has been selected as a UNITE site (The Uninitiates' Introduction to Engineering Program) by the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) and the U.S. Army Office of Research. In conjunction with being named a UNITE site, SSP was also awarded a $30,000 grant to fund this year's program.

LEAP's Summer Scholars Program is a competitive and intensive four-week honors program for students entering the ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades. The program is designed to improve the analytical reasoning and vocabulary skills of the students who are considering careers in engineering, mathematics and the sciences. Students attend daily classes on the campus of the University of New Orleans and, in addition to course work, go on field trips and to UNO COE engineering labs to learn more about engineering. Students must attend all classes in order to participate and are subject to dismissal if absent for more than three days.

The UNITE program is targeted toward high school students and helps prepare them for college through summer classes. These summer classes introduce students to an academic experience which closely parallels that of a first-year student in a university engineering program. Through academic classes, hands-on activities, and team-based learning, the students explore the connections between math and science and real world applications.

There are only seven UNITE sites across the United States, with the others housed at Florida International University, University of New Mexico, University of Delaware, Colorado State University, University of Detroit Mercy, and New Jersey Institute of Technology.

JETS is a non-profit education organization established in 1950 to inform and excite young people about careers in engineering. JETS now serves more than 30,000 students along with 5,000 teachers and conducts programs on more than 150 college campuses each year. JETS coordinates UNITE activities with funding from the U.S. Army Research Office.

LEAP is supported through corporate contributions and the University of New Orleans and Tulane University. Vernard Henley is LEAP's Director.