Naval Academy and DCTAG Graduates to Kick-off College Education Information Day (3/30/07)

Naval Academy and DCTAG Graduates to Kick-off College Education Information Day
March 30, 2007

Washington, DC-Two D.C. residents who have benefited from federal programs that Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has used to expand higher education opportunities here will be featured at a brief program at her annual D.C. Education and Service Academy Day for students and parents, Saturday, March 31 at 9:30 AM, at the U.S. Navy Memorial, 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.Midshipman Douglas Gates, a Norton nominee to the U.S. Naval Academy set to graduate this year, will speak about his reasons for choosing the Academy, how he prepared for acceptance and his experiences there. While completing his undergraduate degree in Annapolis, Gates is simultaneously working on his Masters Degree at Georgetown University and preparing for deployment aboard a U.S. destroyer in Japan at the end of this year. Students also will hear from Tai Brown, a 2006 Rutgers University graduate in political studies, whose college education was funded by Norton's D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DCTAG), a highly successful and popular federal program created by the D.C. College Access Act in 1999. Brown is a native Washingtonian and graduate of Wilson Senior High School. She is pursing a career in legislative and government affairs and was recently hired as a staff assistant in the Norton office.

Representatives of all the major public and private education funding services will be on hand to offer one-on-one information and counseling, following the program. The U.S. Department of Education, the D.C. State Education Office, the D.C. College Access Program (DC-CAP), and the D.C. College Savings "529" Program will have representatives available to provide information and answer questions. During break-out sessions, the U.S. Military, Naval, Merchant Marine, and Air Force Academies will explain the appointment process and how qualified students can receive an education valued at more than $250,000. D.C. junior and senior high school students and their parents and relatives are encouraged to attend to hear representatives from all the U.S. military academies and hear District and federal financial aid officers outline Norton's College Access Act and other tuition assistance programs. The Act, which has raised college attendance here by 60 percent, was voted out of committee yesterday and is on its way to the House floor to reauthorize DCTAG for another five years. More than 6,500 students have received grants up to $10,000 a year, which cover the difference between in-state tuition at most public colleges, or up to $2,500 annually to attend private institutions in the city and region.

The Congresswoman said that she was particularly pleased that Brown and Gates will join her tomorrow because "there is nothing quite like young people speaking directly to their peers to get a point across. Hearing ‘straight talk' from fellow students who can relate the ins and outs of getting the preparation and funds for college and have experienced campus living provides the real life encouragement students need at this stage in their lives." In addition, with the controversial war in Iraq surging on, current and former military students could help high school students explore the benefits of a military education.

Each year the Congresswoman has nominated increasingly greater numbers of D.C. students to the service academies through vigorous outreach by her office and her Service Academy Selection Board, chaired by Kerwin Miller, who is also Executive Director of the D.C. Office of Veterans Affairs, and a graduate of the Naval Academy. The Chairperson Emeritus is Wesley Brown, the first black graduate of the Naval Academy.