Brenda Begay as a Four Corners StudentCollege Prep Program Helps Create Bright Futures for Four Corners Students

Brenda Begay (center in the photo) was thinking about her future when most high school students were just trying to figure out their locker combination. As a freshman at Many Farms High School, Brenda was busy with schoolwork, friends and the basketball team, but Brenda also knew she was interested in going to college. Her Mom, Lila Begay, encouraged her to apply for the Four Corners Upward Bound Math & Science (Four Corners) program at Northern Arizona University.

“My mom motivated me to go and to give it a try.” Brenda recalls. Her Mom thought it would be good for her as well as her future, especially if Brenda was serious about going into the field of medicine.

Four years later Brenda is now part of the NAU freshmen class and says, “If I wasn’t going to be in college most likely I would be at home trying to think of something to do. Sitting down on my Mom’s couch – I don’t want to be that person. I want to do something. College is going to get me somewhere.”

The Four Corners program is a five-week intensive college-prep academy on the Northern Arizona University campus. The summer academy is followed by academic advising throughout the school year. The program is entirely free to students who qualify as being low-income or have parents who have not earned a Bachelor’s degree. The program introduces students to the rigors of college life including learning how to manage time, meet deadlines and utilize campus resources.

For three summers Brenda joined 57 other students from Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado who knew they wanted more than just a high school diploma. The Four Corners program helped Brenda adjust to life on a college campus. “I met new people, there were new things, and it just kind of opened my eyes to a lot of new things.”

Brenda also appreciated the math and science focus of the Four Corners program. “I liked the science classes most of all because my major is biology and it comes in handy with research papers. I’m glad I took the [Four Corners] research classes because I had a [college] research project to do, and I was the only one familiar with the material.”

In a time when even the brightest low-income students struggle to complete college, the Four Corners program provides a foundation of skills that students can rely on when they hit college campuses.

And as a Four Corners alum, Brenda feels confident she will complete her degree. “It’s hard, but I know it’s going to be worth it, and plus I’d rather do this than anything else.

She is grateful that her Mom encouraged her to get in the program initially. “I look up to her now. Plus, she’s going to school. If it is going to be that important to find a life, to have a job of my own, I have to go to school.”

November, 2006