TRiO Upward Bound is a federally funded college preparatory program ($250,000 annual grant award), designed to generate the skills and motivation necessary for postsecondary educational success among limited income high school students whose parents do not hold a four year college degree. Our goal is to help students gain access to educational opportunities and training beyond high school through participation in the services offered during the summer residential and academic year components of the project. Students are provided with academic support, tutoring, advising, career and college guidance, and financial aid awareness.

TRiO Upward Bound serves students in six target area high schools in Humboldt and Trinity counties. The program is designed to enrich students’ secondary education and motivate and guide them to pursue and persist in a postsecondary education environment.
Humboldt County schools include Arcata High, Hoopa Valley High, and South Fork High. Trinity County schools include Hayfork High, Southern Trinity High, and Trinity High.

The program is a year-round program divided into two parts: the summer residential session and the academic year component. During the five-week summer session, students reside in campus residence halls at Humboldt State University and are involved in a rigorous schedule of academic, social, recreational, and cultural activities. During the academic year, participants receive tutoring, academic advising and monitoring, college and career exploration, and financial aid awareness provided by project staff during school visits and Saturday academies. Saturday academies are held in area high schools and are devoted to special topics to assist students with academic coursework, study skills enhancement, and other workshops and seminars deemed necessary.

The goal of TRiO Upward Bound is to help students be successful in high school and gain educational opportunities and training after graduation.

Who Can Apply

Students in 9th and 10th grades who attend one of the six target area schools who have the desire to attend college, whose families have limited incomes, and/or whose parents do not have a four year college degree are eligible to apply to Upward Bound. All services are free to participants. Students and parents/guardians must complete an application for consideration and will be interviewed by project staff in person or by telephone.

For more information, please call the TRiO Upward Bound office at (707) 826-3558 or email us at trioub@humboldt.edu

New Employee!

TRiO Upward Bound is ECSTATIC to announce that Gema Quiroz-Torres has accepted the position of Academic Services Coordinator with our program at Humboldt State University.

Gema graduated from HSU with a bachelor’s degree in Critical Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with a Minor in Ethnic American Literature. She is a TRiO Alumna from the HSU SSS/EOP (Student Support Services/Educational Opportunity Program) program where she served two years as Peer Advisor for other SSS/EOP students. More recently, she has worked the past four years in TRiO Upward Bound as the Bridge Coordinator (2016 and 2017) and as a resident mentor (2014 and 2015). Additionally, Gema has served as the Latina/o Community Coordinator with the Multicultural Center.

Gema currently serves as a college access advisor for the TRiO Talent Search program at HSU and brings with her essential experience, enthusiasm and passion to continue empowering underrepresented students in finding academic success and access to post-secondary educational opportunities.

“Navigating higher education as a first generation college student has taught me the importance of college readiness and has instilled in me a passion for education, especially as a form of liberation. My education through the Critical Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies (CRGS) program prepared me with an understanding of the systems of oppression that continue to marginalize students from lower socioeconomic statuses. Knowing the history of TRiO, being a TRiO alumna, and working as a TRiO professional, I understand that equity in education comes with working with individual students, as well as their families and communities at large.”

–Gema Quiroz, Cover Letter: Oct. 23, 2017.