Oakland University’s Project Upward Bound recently received an award of $55,000 from the U.S. Department of Education for the 2003-04 fiscal year, which will help serve an additional 20 students from Pontiac.

“We are pleased that our program has received this award, which will allow us to extend our services to students at high risk of not graduating high school,” said Geri Graham, director of OU’s Project Upward Bound program. “The students we serve at high schools in Pontiac and Oak Park benefit from programs like ours, and we look forward to continuing our services to these students.”

Earlier this year, the program was awarded a grant for a four-year cycle of funding also from the U.S. Department of Education that will give more than $2.1 million to the program.

Project Upward Bound prepares high school students for successful post-secondary education completion. This federally funded program provides academic, social, cultural and career enrichment to students. OU’s program is in its 37th year of serving students and is one of 819 across the nation.