Credit: Nick Romanenko

Shanequa Mickens and her mother Barbara Mickens celebrate the completion of the first week of the Rutgers Future Scholars Program. If Shanequa, a student at Hawthorne Avenue School in Newark, completes the program through high school successfully, she will be eligible to attend Rutgers with all tuition and fees paid.

James Boswell’s longtime interest – well, longtime for a 13-year-old – in forensic science was confirmed this summer when he spent a week on the Rutgers–Camden campus in some of the first activities of the Rutgers Future Scholars Program.

Boswell, an eighth-grader at Cooper’s Poynt Professional Development School in Camden, learned about how to reconstruct the details of a car accident by analyzing paint scrapes and crumpled metal. He also played the role of defense attorney in a grisly hypothetical case of cannibalism.

“It was fun, but hard at the same time,” James said. “It was enjoyable, and it made you think.”

The work that week was so taxing that James could only relate a few details to his mother, Joanna Henriquez, when he got home. “He would talk about his day for about an hour, and then he would be knocked out,” Henriquez said. “It’s a different style of learning than what they teach in the public schools.”

The Future Scholars Program is Rutgers’ way of taking responsibility for strengthening the educational pipeline in New Jersey – ensuring that as many students as possible gain skills and nurture talents necessary to make the transition from high school to college, and then to meet the challenges of college successfully.

Students who complete the Rutgers Future Scholars Program successfully, and are admitted to Rutgers University, will not have to pay tuition or fees.

Rutgers identified its four home communities – Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, and Piscataway – as fertile ground to begin the ambitious program. More than 200 eighth-graders were selected to participate this year, and hundreds more will join them in the years to come. Many of the students, because of their proximity, are already familiar with Rutgers.

The Future Scholars Program is located in the Office of the Vice President for Enrollment Management. Costs for the Rutgers Future Scholars Program are expected to be covered primarily through private donations and corporate gifts. Once the students enter college, their educations also may be funded by existing federal and state financial aid programs.

Students continue their involvement with Rutgers throughout each school year. Aramis Gutierrez, the director of Rutgers Future Scholars, said that program staff are planning tutoring and other academic enrichment days. The program will not be an easy ride for the children; Gutierrez said they will be asked to come to campus on weekends, as will their parents.

But there is also plenty of play. A central pillar of the Rutgers Future Scholars program is to expose the children to a variety of social and cultural activities. They will see the Rutgers women’s basketball team take the court at the RAC, go to a Camden Riversharks baseball game and get VIP treatment, attend Rutgers’ annual Faraday Christmas Children’s Lecture in physics, and take in performances by Mason Gross students and faculty.

This summer Shanequa Mickens took a trip to South Street Seaport in Manhattan with other Rutgers Future Scholars from Newark to see the “Bodies” exhibit. They also saw the Broadway play, “Wicked.” “At first I didn’t really want to go see it. I thought it was going to be boring,” she said. “But I liked it.” Shanequa, who is a student at the Hawthorne Avenue School in Newark, also learned about various majors such as business, nursing, criminal justice, and visual arts.

“This will help me get a good job. And it will give me a better chance to go to college so my mom won’t have to spend a lot of money,” Shanequa said.