COVER STORY: Promising Futures

Yareth Varela is a graduate student at Tarleton State, but “college graduate” was not how she imagined her future self when she was a fourth grader. Although her teachers often told her, “One day you’ll go to college,” it just didn’t seem reachable to her. Then she attended Baylor’s University for Young People (UYP), a School of Education summer program for gifted and talented students.

“As someone whose parents and older brothers and cousins didn’t attend college, I didn’t necessarily know what it looked like,” she said. “Attending UYP and being on the Baylor campus, I got to see Baylor students living their independent lives and studying in these huge buildings. It definitely gave me a visualization of what my future could look like.”

Baylor’s enrichment programming for high-ability students launched in 1983, but the cost was prohibitive for students whose families were unable to pay the tuition and bring their students to the Baylor campus.

That all changed in 1999 with the launch of Project Promise, a scholarship opportunity created to support Waco ISD students through support from a City of Waco Community Development Block Grant and from a GEAR-UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) federal grant. Now supported by the School of Education and donations, Project Promise scholarships are open to students from any location who have been identified as gifted or high-ability through school or other testing and who qualify through federal definitions as low income.

Having celebrated its 25th anniversary, Project Promise has provided more than 1,300 scholarships. Like Varela, many recipients credit the program for altering their academic trajectory and thus their lives.

The Project Promise scholarship is part of Baylor’s Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, which provides accelerated programs for K-12 students, professional development for educators and administrators of gifted programs, and clinical experiences for Baylor students studying education.

Baylor’s commitment to Project Promise has remained steady, while recent programming enhancements have brought new offerings, deeper learning experiences, and a change in nomenclature. The moniker “UYP” now applies to the Center’s programs for students in grades 1-3 — three one-week summer day camps. Students in grades 4-12 are part of Baylor TIP (Talent Identification Program), which identifies students with exceptional academic ability and provides them with learning opportunities commensurate with their potential. TIP hosts summer day programs for grades 4-7 and a residential camp for up to three weeks for students in grades 8-12.

Thirteen Project Promise students attended TIP’s overnight camp in 2024, its first year. Because of the more intensive programming and residential experience, more scholarship support is needed for each student. The amount that formerly supported three students can now support only one.

Baylor TIP programs also include new and exciting options for high-ability students. TIP offers Super Saturdays on a variety of topics, plus topical “societies” that meet virtually or in person and have so far included creative writing, literature, and leadership.

Center executive director Dr. Todd Kettler, associate professor of in the Department of Educational Psychology, leads the literary society and said it’s akin to a book club. “The difference is that I’m trying to push them to read more complex books that will be beneficial to them if they take advanced placement courses,” he said. “I introduce journal articles about the books to familiarize them with the idea of literary criticism, but my goal is to have fun reading and talking about it.”

“The difference is that I’m trying to push them to read more complex books that will be beneficial to them if they take advanced placement courses."
—Dr. Todd Kettler

Dr. Cheryl Taliaferro, director of TIP’s pre-collegiate programs, helms the leadership society, which is providing leadership to the program in real time. Members of the society compose the new Baylor TIP Student Advisory Council. The advisory group met on campus this spring for a retreat, where they did a book study on leadership, developed bylaws for the council, planned summer residential activities, and designed the T-shirt for summer 2025.

As Baylor increases its offerings for high-ability students, a commitment remains to remove barriers associated with income to participate in those opportunities. Project Promise scholarships can help change the lives of students by providing the enrichment and support they need to access higher levels of education.

Research findings on Project Promise participants showed they outpaced their peers, especially in high school graduation rates and matriculation to higher education institutions. Current students in the program include valedictorians and salutatorians, and new research aims to identify ways to improve enrollment and program retention. Initial findings note the importance of parental support for academic achievement, the value students place on social relationships with peers who have similar intellectual interests, and the significance of adult mentors in the program.

Most important for the future of Project Promise is financial resources to support these high-ability students and help them reach their educational potential.