University TRIO program recognizes 25th anniversary at honorary dinner

The TRIO program at Southeast Missouri State University held its annual TRIO Day celebration with a dinner to celebrate its 25th anniversary earlier this month.

The celebration included speeches from university administrators Dr. Debbie Below, Valdis Zalite and Sean Spinks.

The TRIO program is part of Student Support Services on campus and is a designed to assist low-income students who are first generation college students or have a disability. The celebration dinner is to congratulate the students on what they have accomplished throughout the year.

Students in the McNair Scholars Program, a subsection of Student Support Services, conducted research and gave oral presentations with the help of visual aids, including posters with pictures and captions in designated areas.

After the presentations were conducted, the celebration began with several university administrators addressing those in attendance.

The current TRIO students were grouped with alumni in order to effectively network and hear about the success of others who could provide some insight.

Below, who serves as the vice president for enrollment management and student success and the dean of students, spoke at the event and led those in attendance with words of encouragement.

"My homework assignment for you is to connect with someone of a different race or ethnic background and genuinely get to know them," Below said. "This is the first step in the right direction to making a change in moving forward with our successes. Imagine the things you could learn about yourself and others just by taking the time out to listen, learn and interact with your peers. It's valuable to your success in the future."

Below then went on to discuss how students impacted her life and position in student success programs. She stated that although the university continues to become successful within its programs it still has more miles to travel and more to achieve.

Spinks, retention coordinator in Academic Support Centers at Southeast, led the TRIO students with a quote from a speech titled "The Difference Between Being Rich and Wealthy."

"We often focus on the success that we see in others but fail to recognize the hard work that led up to it," Spinks quoted. "What you need to know is that everything worthwhile takes time. If you want to see incredible results and make incredible things happen, you need persistence and desire. Your ability to cultivate desire and take persistent action is what will make you successful, not your natural talents. It's all about consistent daily action. And that's the thought process I try to instill in my students psyche. Along with the value of reality, networking, attitude and diligence."

The recipients of TRIO federal grants consist of institutions of higher education, public and private agencies and organizations, including community-based organizations, that have experience in serving disadvantaged youth and secondary schools.

These federal outreach and student service programs develop a plan to help serve students and provide them with the correct resources to progress through school.

Students must be accepted into a funded project that serves the institution or school that student is attending or the area where the student lives.

Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins, the president at Southeast, was not able to attend the TRIO anniversary event, but he left a letter of appreciation and congratulations for other participants from the community who were in attendance including members of financial services, representatives from Cape Central High School, current Southeast students and Southeast alumni.

Others who were also invited were former TRIO students who have gone on to earn their masters and doctoral degrees and students who are currently in TRIO.

Students were grouped according to similarities in majors, according to the Director of TRIO and the McNair Scholars Program Monica Barnes.

The event was originally scheduled for March 5, but due to inclement weather conditions it was rescheduled for March 11 and still managed to have many in attendance.

TRIO Day has been proclaimed a National Day of Service and usually is celebrated on the last Saturday in the month of February by the entire country.