Spring Break
Talent Development celebrates 40 years
Chloe Thompson
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: News
04/02/08 - For 40 years the Talent Development program has provided students from poor backgrounds and struggling high schools a shot at attending the University of Rhode Island.
The program reaches about 18 high schools and middle schools in Rhode Island and follows students' progress from their acceptance into the program until their graduation from URI.
The program came to fruition after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Frank Forleo, assistant director for admissions in the Talent Development Program at URI, has been with the program for 33 years and remembers program co-founders Arthur L. Hardge and Leo DiMaio well.
Hardge sat beside King in a jail cell during the Civil Rights Movement and Forleo said that the program would not be what it is today without the founders' dedication.
"If Dr. King hadn't been killed 40 years ago, there would have never been a Talent Development program because it was his death that pushed the state of Rhode Island to create Talent Development as an opportunity for people who weren't getting an opportunity," Forleo, who is a URI alumnus, said.
The program has grown from just 16 students in its first year to more than 500 accepted students this year, Forleo said. Though the bulk of the program caters to black and Hispanic students, which comprise about 60 to 65 percent of accepted students. The program is also composed of 25 percent Asians and 10 percent disadvantaged white students, with the remainder being Native American students.
Forleo said one focus the program has when recruiting students is trying to look past low SAT scores, which he said have negative socioeconomic standards.
Coordinators within the TD program look for students who may have scored lower than the required standards to get into colleges, and work with students in the "C to C-+ range" to better their grades before entering into higher education.
"The idea that the program has grown, it's phenomenal," Forleo said. "I don't think Reverend [Hardge] or Mr. DiMaio, if they were here with us today, would believe the growth it's experienced."
The program reaches about 18 high schools and middle schools in Rhode Island and follows students' progress from their acceptance into the program until their graduation from URI.
The program came to fruition after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Frank Forleo, assistant director for admissions in the Talent Development Program at URI, has been with the program for 33 years and remembers program co-founders Arthur L. Hardge and Leo DiMaio well.
Hardge sat beside King in a jail cell during the Civil Rights Movement and Forleo said that the program would not be what it is today without the founders' dedication.
"If Dr. King hadn't been killed 40 years ago, there would have never been a Talent Development program because it was his death that pushed the state of Rhode Island to create Talent Development as an opportunity for people who weren't getting an opportunity," Forleo, who is a URI alumnus, said.
The program has grown from just 16 students in its first year to more than 500 accepted students this year, Forleo said. Though the bulk of the program caters to black and Hispanic students, which comprise about 60 to 65 percent of accepted students. The program is also composed of 25 percent Asians and 10 percent disadvantaged white students, with the remainder being Native American students.
Forleo said one focus the program has when recruiting students is trying to look past low SAT scores, which he said have negative socioeconomic standards.
Coordinators within the TD program look for students who may have scored lower than the required standards to get into colleges, and work with students in the "C to C-+ range" to better their grades before entering into higher education.
"The idea that the program has grown, it's phenomenal," Forleo said. "I don't think Reverend [Hardge] or Mr. DiMaio, if they were here with us today, would believe the growth it's experienced."
