Dunham Early College Academy gives kids a chance

Fifty students from the East and West Aurora school districts will be able to finish almost an entire year of college while still high school.

Officials from Waubonsee Community College and both districts signed an agreement to begin the Dunham Early College Academy at its downtown Aurora campus on Friday.

The academy will be funded through a two-year $1.1 million grant from the Dunham Fund, established by late Aurora businessman John Dunham.

"We have a chance to take 50 kids and give them a chance to attend college, and maybe change their lives," William Skoglund, chairman of the Dunham Fund, said.

Students eligible for the program are those in good academic standing who weren't planning to attend college for financial or other reasons, said Bill Marzano, Waubonsee Vice President of Community Development.

The grant will cover the entire cost of the program, and students won't have to pay anything.

The students will attend high school in the morning, then be driven to Waubonsee's Aurora campus for dual-credit classes in the afternoon. At the end of the two years, they will have 24 college credit hours completed.

Students will also get one-on-one academic mentoring, career and financial aid counseling and a laptop they get to keep after graduation.

Potential students were identified with the help of the high school guidance counselors, Marzano said. Those students had to apply, take Waubonsee's assessment test for incoming freshmen and write an essay on why they wanted to go to college.

After the two years of the program funded through the Dunham group, Waubonsee will be looking for funding to continue it, Marzano said.

John Dunham would have been proud of the program to help students with potential but not the means for college, Skoglund said.

"He was a strong believer in hard work and giving people a chance to pull themselves up by their bootstraps," he said.

The program was put together in a little more than six months, with planning beginning in January. The first group of students will have their first day of class Aug. 20.