In 1999, the Cook Family Foundation started a partnership with the Shiawassee Regional Education Service District (SRESD) to provide academically talented high school students the opportunities, resources and support to reach their full potential. Since then, more than 1,200 eighth graders from eight area high schools have been recognized as Shiawassee Scholars.
A new report documents the success of the program: 81% of the Shiawassee Scholars have enrolled in college, as compared to 54% of their peers. Impressively, most of them are attending prestigious four-year universities. (See Figure 1 and Figure 2 for data details.) 
Getting into a good college, often with a scholarship, is the first step. The report, compiled by the Center for Education Design, Evaluation, and Research at the University of Michigan, also shows that Shiawassee Scholars do well at college, with them persisting at higher education, getting similar grades, and graduating at rates comparable to other college students. 
“Working with Bruce Cook three decades ago, we knew that Shiawassee students were as smart as kids from anywhere,” said Tom Cook. “But they lacked the opportunities, support, and guidance to attend the best colleges.” Discussions with parents, counselors, and administrators with the SRESD led to the creation of the Shiawassee Scholars program in 1999 with funding from the Cook Family Foundation.
“We knew in our hearts we were impacting the lives of these students from their comments and graduations over the decades” said SRESD Superintendent Dave Schulte. “It’s great to see our shared endeavor verified by this research.”
What makes the program successful? Researchers conducted a number of focus groups with current and former Shiawassee Scholars and they identified the encouragement of teachers, help with the logistics of education such as college applications, test preparation, scholarships to summer college programs, an overnight visit to the University of Michigan at the start of high school, and the influence of other and previous Shiawassee Scholars.
According to the report,“the near-peer interactions between current and former scholars also shapes expectancy and task value.” In other words, guidance and advice from college students helps Shiawassee Scholars see that they too can attend a four-year university and convinces them of the benefit of the work necessary to achieve academic success.
In a rural county, it can sometimes be difficult for talented students to see themselves as college students, even with the encouragement of parents and teachers. The Shiawassee Scholars program provides both motivation and mechanics to make the most of high school, apply for admission and scholarships to prestigious universities, and then succeed. as one former scholar explained, the Shiawassee Scholars program “was one of the first rungs…in a long ladder of achievement.”
Click here to read the entire report from CEDER at the University of Michigan.
