2/27/08

Plain Dealer Column

Janet Okoben

For the second year in a row, high school students can earn college credit through summer programs at a number of local colleges. It’s all part of the state’s attempt to get more students interested in science, technology, engineering, math and foreign languages.

The amount of college credit varies by program, and last year some programs offered stipends to students on top of the free classes. Last year, more than 500 high school juniors and seniors participated. More details on how to sign up will be coming out soon, or you can check the individual college’s Web site.

Here’s what the Ohio Board of Regents has arranged in the Cleveland area so far:

Regents Foreign Language Academy in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Hindi, to be of fered at Kent State University, Bowling Green State Univer sity, Oberlin College, the University of Ak ron and the Summit County Educational Service Center.

Summer Academy in Computational Science and Engineering at UA.

Igniting Streams of Learning in Science, at Hiram College, KSU and the UA.

CSI: College Science Investigation — A Forensics Academy, at Baldwin-Wallace College and Cleveland State University.

Northeast Ohio Center of Excellence in Mathematics at CSU and KSU.

Not to be forgotten:

It’s not part of the state program, but Ursuline College just announced a summer science program for high school seniors that also has college credit and scholarship dollars attached.

“Science First: Focusing Interest in Real-Life Science and Technology” is a two-week course that starts July 14. Students will return in January for a one-day session to present research.

Ursuline got a $47,000 grant from TG’s (Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corp.) Public Benefit Grant Program.

For more information, go to ursuline.edu/academics/artsci or call Ursuline’s Jeanette Nappier at 440-646-8158.

OSU’s Coke at risk?

Coca-Cola has been the target of a boycott at Oberlin College since 2005, and now a national group is trying to rally Ohio State University students to pressure administrators to get out of a Coke contract there.

A group called Students Against Coke has formed in Columbus, and last month about 100 students showed up for a meeting there. Ray Rogers, director of the New York-based Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, said he and other organizers are hoping to have several more meetings before a contract between Coke and OSU expires in June.

The group says Coke has environmental and human rights issues in Colombia and India. A spokeswoman for Coke told OSU’s student newspaper that the claims are taken out of context and said government agencies have found no truth to other claims.

Shelly Hoffman, an OSU spokeswoman, said the current contract, which expires June 30, is a $30 million, 10-year contract.

In exchange, Coke provides “cash and services” to the university and student groups.