JANUARY Saturday, January 17th Parent Meeting & Black History Tribute HH Auditorium -10:00am – 1:00pm Friday-Sunday Jan 23rd – 25th Battle of the Bands – Atlanta, GA

The end of the school year is just a few months away. This can be a very stressful, fun, overwhelming and exhilarating time.

I'm proud of all you've accomplished over the past four years. Remember to keep up the good work until the diploma is in hand!

Congrats to the following: Brooks, Christopher Frankfort High School Cordones, Angelo Western Hills High School Graham, Cierra Western Hills High School Hobbs, Dionne Franklin Co. High School McDaniel, Kiara Frankfort High School McIntyre, Anigius Franklin Co. High School Miller, Lakyn Franklin Co. High School Newton, Kayla Frankfort High School Taylor, Octavia Frankfort High School FEBRUARY Saturday, February 7th In this Corner Cassius Clay (Play at the Kentucky Center, Louisville)

Saturday, February 7th In this Corner Cassius Clay (Play at the Kentucky Center, Louisville)

Saturday, February 21st Speech and Poise Workshop (Jennifer Miles) HH Auditorium, 10:00am – 12:30pm

Saturday, March 7th Bullying Workshop (Dr. Silvia Mason) HH Auditorium, 10:00am - 12:30pm Saturday, March 21st From College II Career Student Center Ballroom, 9:00am – 2:00pm

Saturday, April 4th Kentucky Science Center, Louisville, KY Saturday, April 18th Surprise Senior Trip Lexington, KY or Louisville, KY

Tuesday May 5th UB End of the Year Banquet – BR

January Thursday, January 22nd Tuesday, January 27th Thursday, January 29th

February Tuesday, February 3rd Thursday, February 5th Tuesday, February 10th Thursday, February 12th Tuesday, February 17th Thursday, February 19th Tuesday, February 24th Thursday, February 26th

Tuesday, March 3rd Thursday, March 5th Tuesday, March 17th Thursday, March 19th Tuesday, March 24th Thursday, March 26th Tuesday, March 31st

Thursday, April 2nd Tuesday, April 14th Thursday, April 16th Tuesday, April 21st Thursday, April 23rd Tuesday, April 28th Thursday, April 30th

Senior Meetings Tuesday, January 6th Tuesday, January 20th Tuesday, February 10th Tuesday, February 24th Thursday, March 5th Tuesday, March 24th Tuesday, April 14th Thursday, April 30th Tuesday, May 19th

Greetings to both parents and students from the world of Upward Bound. It is 2015 already!?!!!?! A brand new year to push! It is understood that “push” requires action. Webster defines the verb “push” as followed: to press against with force in order to drive or impel. When a person pushes an object, the object is forcefully moved from one location to another. Moreover, pushing is looked upon as an aggressive act. Although I do not condone violence or acts of aggression towards another individual that might cause harm, there are times in life when we are going to have to “push” our way through our day to day activities.

Pushing through periods of academic lulls requires one to aggressively wake from laziness, boredom, or apathy in order to achieve the A or B in a subject that may challenge us. This form of push can be attending tutoring on Tuesday or Thursday rather than going home to take a nap or watch television. It can also be seen in choosing to utilize SMARTTHINKING, our online tutoring system, while at home rather than getting on YouTube for entertainment. Maybe, it is working with online ACT Practice Test as a sophomore or junior in high school so that you can work towards achieving a score of 21 or above.

Pushing yourselves academically may also mean having the self-control to attend school or go to class when you don't have the parental support you may need. Maybe it's the self-control to treat your parents, teachers, adults, family, friends, and enemies with respect even when it doesn't feel good and/or even when you did not do anything wrong.

Beginning in the month of December, the Upward Bound staff had to push ourselves to do an accurate job on our Annual Performance Report (APR). The APR is a federal report that requires us to report on each student Upward Bound served since 2008. It was a very tedious, arduous process but we pushed our way through it. However, from this report we learned we have much work to do. Out of all of the objectives, we did not achieve three. One of the three was due to not having students who graduated from high school and attend college in 2008; yet, two out of the three are objectives we are going to have to tackle. These objectives were 80% of our students maintaining a grade point average of 2.5 or above and the other is 75% of our students achieving a proficient in Reading/Language Arts and Math state assessments. We did not meet these objectives; therefore, we are going to have to push ourselves, students, and parents in order for us to meet and/or exceed our goals.

I encourage each of you to attend tutoring on Tuesday or Thursday of each week as well as your scheduled events/activities and senior meetings. We appreciate and thank each of you for doing your part and remember in order to end strong by the end of the school year, each of you may have to PUSH YOURSELVES!!!!

P.S. As the Upward Bound Director, I would like to welcome Ms. JoAnn Webber to our Upward Bound family. She officially started on December 4th and we are blessed to have her as a part of our team.

M2. Tee T'Ebony Torain, Upward Bound Director

The 50th Anniversary of Upward Bound is a cause for great celebration. On December 6th, Kentucky State University Upward Bound commemorated the proud history of TRIO's "First Program" and asserted our accomplishments. Upward Bound projects across the country shared with their institutions and communities the valuable contributions that Upward Bound has made in the lives of low-income and/or first-generation students.