BRUNSWICK

Students in the Upward Bound program at Bowdoin College, which concluded this week, say the six-week experience has helped prepare them for the full college experience.

The students stay in college dorms and Daniel Mills, 16, of Bath said students have to follow the rules, get along with their roommates, and do their own laundry.

Mckayla Ball of Lewiston, 17, will be a junior like Mills and said part of the Upward Bound program involves a “Just Ask” session with the teaching assistants and current Bowdoin College students which provides students with tips for surviving college life, “because it can be very overwhelming.”

Ball and Mills took a break from their chemistry class and lab Wednesday with instructor Aaron Keller, learning about the density of different liquids — water, oil and alcohol — to talk about the six-week experience.

It isn’t that the school work the students are assigned is too difficult, Mills said, but rather the fact that students have three different classes requiring them to manage their time well to keep from falling behind.

Both plan to attend college and Ball said, “We have two hours of study time where we get homework done. You sort of have to be able to provide 30 minutes for this school work and 30 minutes for that work and whatever you don’t understand, you’ve got to get help from someone,” which could be a teaching assistant or a fellow student.

Mills said all the components of the program work in conjunction with one another to maximize what students will get out of it.

Ball agreed and said, “Just knowing that you have someone that’s always going to be there to help you out when you need it — those things, they matter so much.”

The program also creates a community, “so we’re all there for each other whenever we need help,” she said.

“We all consider ourselves a family,” Mills said. “If there’s one of us struggling, we all help no matter what.”

Tyler Sprowl, 16, of Beals returned to the Upward Bound program for a second summer, jumping at the chance when he learned there was an opening.

There can be pressure at high school but here there is an openness, Sprowl said, but “Here you can just be whoever you are.”

All the students are invested in the program which contributes to that welcoming environment.

“I’d already decided that I was going to go to college,” Sprowl said, and Upward Bound helped solidify that decision and prepare through the “Just Ask” sessions. Particularly the Bowdoin College seniors who held a seminar on the college application process, he said, so “All the scary parts of college have been taken out by Upward Bound. They help you through it.”

Funded through the U.S. Department of Education, Upward Bound is a program that helps high school students get into and succeed in college. Students are the first generation in their family to graduate from college and come from low-income households. The Bowdoin College program works with students from 11 Maine high schools.

Judy Ebert, Program Coordinator said the students have had workshops on cooking, fiction writing, social justice, monologues, history, yoga and public speaking and more.

“You learn practical skills,” she said. “It’s jut a great learning experience. I can’t say enough about this program.”

The students, some who may not make eye contact for the first week, blossom in this safe environment and families notice the inward growth when they come on the family friend day.

The faculty comes from many area high schools to teach and college students staff the program, Ebert said. The residential staff spend 24 hours a day for six weeks with the Upward Bound participants, she said, “and they’re so compassionate they will do anything to see that every student succeeds.”

There are students who struggle and some don’t receive a lot of support, but “Even after they leave, we tell them call us,” she said. That’s why there is a saying: “Upward Bound for life.”