Five years ago, 17 students participated in the inaugural Project Stepping Stone, founded by IBM executive Steve Ramos. Ramos' goal was to empower Latino students in transitioning from high school to college. This week, 81 students are at Ball State University making that transition in the week-long motivational camp.
Ramos partnered with Spanish professor Chin-Sook Pak and Ball State Admissions to bring Project Stepping Stone to campus.
Even high-achieving students often do not go to college because they are uninformed about financial aid and scholarships, Pak said.
"There's tremendous disadvantage," she said. "When you don't have information, you think it's beyond your reach. But once the information becomes accessible to you, that's tremendous power."
Itzel Maya, a Project Stepping Stone participant for two years, said her experience with the program prompted her to apply for college. She is now studying event management at Ivy Tech.
"It was a step that helped me think more about what I want to do," she said.
Pak said she wanted to give more students that power through an honors course that allowed Ball State students to mentor Latino students from Muncie Central High School. Members of the class are now working with Project Stepping Stone on a student panel.
According to the Ball State Web site, the school's Latino population grew from 1.2 percent in 2003 to 1.8 percent this year. Ball State's Strategic Plan aims to increase faculty diversity to 15 percent and staff diversity to 7 percent by 2012. No projection was given for student diversity.
Fay Gammon, a senior psychology major in Pak's class, said Ball State has made progress in increasing Latino student population but could not stop now.
"It would be a shame to think that a really great brain with ideas that could change the world was wasted just because they could not pay for college or did not have the community support they needed," she said. "We are working to make sure that does not happen, and we are starting with our home campus."
Pak said although some said too much attention was given to minorities, she thought taking action was worthwhile and necessary.
"To not assist them and encourage them in a proactive way, I think that would be more of a social cost than helping them," she said.
Ramos agreed, saying programs such as Project Stepping Stone are investments in the students. If the government helps fund the students' education, they make more money in their careers and give back in taxes, the investment pays off, he said.
"I'm a business guy - it's a no-brainer," he said. "Our goal in the long haul is to put these students in 30 or 40 years on corporate boards and in politics."
More than 250 volunteers worked to organize and run this week's event, which was at Project Stepping Stone partner schools: Ball State, Marian College, IUPUI and Ivy Tech- Indianapolis. The camp is funded entirely by sponsors and free for student participants.
Ramos said he was satisfied with the program's success and hoped people were receptive to the message of Project Stepping Stone.
"Everybody really needs to look to the future and where our world is going," he said. "With globalization, we have to work together. Open your minds, open your hearts."
This story was written in conjunction with NewsLink Indiana.
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