SANFORD - Of all the things you might expect high school students to be doing early on a Saturday morning, attending a workshop on personal finance probably wouldn't make the top of your list.

But that's exactly what was happening in a large meeting room on the Central Carolina Community College Harnett Main Campus, where more than 75 Upward Bound participants were gathering for a pre-workshop snack, renewing friendships and getting ready to break into the first of two sessions presented on the topic of "Financial Health."

Upward Bound is a federally-funded program designed to help students prepare to apply for college and enjoy success once they arrive on campus. Families interested in the program must apply and satisfy the eligibility requirements of the program.

Before this January workshop began, Jordan Carter - the current CCCC Upward Bound program director -- launched into a fast-paced, three-minute monologue listing specific things everyone needed to do to get on top of studies with the new semester beginning. Then she began wrapping it up.

"What's the point of Upward Bound?" she asked without even a pause.

"Going to college!" came the response.

And then there was time for a celebration. Carter announced that one of the students in the room, Eric Flores of Harnett Central High School, had just been announced as a nominee for the Park Scholarship, a prestigious, four-year, full-ride at N.C. State University.

The Big Attraction

Though the goal is to help participants get into college, the financial workshop isn't only about college. Granted, one of the two sessions was about paying for a higher education; high school juniors and seniors heard from Crystal Baker, an assistant director for financial aid at Campbell University, who explained how the entire process worked. But while all of that was happening in a packed computer lab down the hall, freshmen and sophomores were sitting at rows of tables back in the big meeting room getting a bootcamp on credit and money management from Lucinda McLean of Sanford's First Horizon Bank, a session the older students attended after a break and before lunch concluded the festivities.

Saturday morning workshops are required once a month during the school year for students in Upward Bound, who apply to participate in the free program by completing a short application and one-page personal statement about their interests, ambitions and goals after high school. Once admitted, everything is free: meals, trips and even transportation to the Saturday workshops from high schools in Lee and Harnett counties, the region CCCC Upward Bound serves. (While the college also operates in Chatham, a different Upward Bound program serves that county.)

Offerings are fairly extensive. One of the most popular is a six-week summer, residential program, held last year at N.C. State University, where about 40 students get a feel for college life by living on campus and taking noncredit classes designed to help them apply what they learned the previous school year to their upcoming academic studies. For rising seniors, Upward Bound also helps arrange summer internships in fields they plan to study -- often near their homes in law firms, medical facilities and accounting offices. Recently-graduated students can even take college courses for credit before beginning their freshman year.

And then there are cultural enrichment trips, which appear to be one of the big attractions for many Upward Bound students. Each summer ends with a trip to places like Wilmington, Charleston or Chicago, where students spend several days experiencing life outside their own communities and touring different kinds of colleges.

Kevin Pearson, who directed CCCC Upward Bound before recently being named Dean of College Access Services, says many people have heard about Upward Bound, but may not know everything it offers. That's because there is so much information circulating about so many educational options -- opportunities like dual enrollment and any number of college prep programs.

But once they find out about Upward Bound, people can be astonished. "What they generally know is that Upward Bound is a program that helps students go to college," Pearson says. "But when we talk to people in the community and give people specific information, they can't believe how great the program is and they can't believe that it's offered completely at no cost to students and their families. That's when people become energized with the program and realize all of its benefits."

Pearson is a passionate advocate because he sees the success Upward Bound students enjoy. When he completed one report last year, Pearson found that 66 percent of CCCC's Upward Bound participants graduated college within six years, a statistic that must be reported as part of the federal grant. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, that is two percentage points higher than the overall national graduation rate. Especially good when Upward Bound students didn't have a lot of the family and financial advantages that many college students enjoy. Even better when you consider that the original goal for this group was just 45 percent.

But Pearson also is an advocate because he has a deep, personal understanding of what this experience can do. "I was an Upward Bound participant over 20 years ago and that's what provided me with what I needed for college," he said. "I would not have gone to college without Upward Bound, so I'm a living, primary example."

An Exciting Slap

Mishayla Torres and Emelie Hemingway both applied to Upward Bound after seeing how much it helped their siblings. The two seniors from Western Harnett High School didn't know each other before meeting in Upward Bound, but have become good friends ever since. Because neither knew much about the college application process, Upward Bound helped them navigate those complexities, but also explore new opportunities and eventually find their paths.

That wasn't a given. Mishayla said the one thing she was fairly sure about is that she didn't really want to do Upward Bound. At least, at first.

"But this program did wake me up; it slapped me into reality," she says. "I had good grades, but I didn't know or care about going to university. I was kind of lost. And then this helped me find people with my same interests, who are smarter than me and maybe want to compete more, and who would motivate me into being the best version of myself."

Both students appreciated the wealth of resources available, including personal access to experts who know the college landscape well and can answer questions one-on-one.

There are probably as many different reasons why students participate in Upward Bound as there are different students. Still, some common threads arise: Many mention the wealth of resources and those trips out of town. Of course, you're never far from someone reminding you that everything is free.

But for many, one important -- and often unexpected -- benefit is less tangible. It's something that doesn't appear in recruiting ads, but makes life so much better. And that's how spending a few years in a community of scholars can open all kinds of new perspectives and opportunities. That's one thing about Upward Bound that Emelie wanted people to know.

"I wouldn't be as open to a lot of different things and open to sharing my experiences," she says, looking back over a journey she began with an application several years ago. "Before the program, I was very reclusive and introverted. I really wanted to grow out my shell. Being in a community with different people and different ideas, who want to do different things, it's really exciting."

Learn more about the Upward Bound program at www.cccc.edu/ub.