Over more than 40 years, Upward Bound (UB) at Yakima Valley College (YVC) has helped hundreds of students from low-income and first-generation backgrounds — like Edith Rangel, who graduated from Sunnyside High school in 2019 — reach their college dreams.

YVC TRIO UB is federally funded by the U.S. Department of Education and serves students that attend Sunnyside, Granger, Wapato and Toppenish High Schools in grades 9 – 12.  Each year, YVC’s program helps more than 100 students from those high schools better understand a college process that oftentimes can be overwhelming, especially for first-generation college students.

Rangel used YVC’s program as a springboard for future success and is currently enrolled in a nursing program at Washington State University – Tri-Cities.

“During my senior year, UB helped me to apply to countless universities and each time they helped me develop my essays and understand the forms I was submitting,” Rangel said “I also had the opportunity to tour countless colleges and universities and get to see my options first hand. This is something that I would have not been able to do without UB, due to my parents’ busy work schedule.”

In addition, UB works to expose students to a wide range of cultural, career and college activities. These activities focus on setting up students to be prepared for what senior year has in store with the demanding college process. Through a 6-week residential summer program, students get the chance to take core classes and live at the YVC dorms to get a feel for what college will be like while earning additional high school credit and sometimes college credits.

“During the summer, you get the chance to live on campus and take classes at YVC. This really helped me figure out how to manage my time and workload. All the professors were nice and were really focused on our learning. The Summer Program also gave me a feel of what moving away was going to be like, since I lived at YVC and saw my family on the weekends,” continued Rangel.

During the 2018-19 program year, 80% of UB participants who graduated from high school during the school year with a regular secondary diploma enrolled in a program of postsecondary education by the fall term immediately following high school graduation, or were accepted for enrollment following a deferment. YVC UB application is currently open!

We encourage students to apply online at Upward Bound.