Men's Lacrosse Team Hosts Middle School Students as Part of Syracuse Gear Up
4/10/2007 2:19:09 PM | Men's Lacrosse
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Several members the Orange men’s lacrosse team spoke with seventh and eighth grade students from Blodgett Middle School on Tuesday, April 10 as part of the “Syracuse Gear Up” program. Seniors Steve Panarelli, Mike MacDonald, junior Dustin Palmer, and sophomores Dan Hardy and Peter Coluccini hosted the group at Manley Field House. SU men’s basketball player Paul Harris also dropped by to offer advice to the students.
The players stressed the importance of performing well in high school as a way to open doors for future opportunities, both in college and their personal lives. They also discussed the role athletics played in helping them achieve their goal of getting a college education.
“Some of these kids don’t come from the best families,” MacDonald said. “The don’t all have great structure at home. To come up here and talk to college athletes, hopefully it will have a positive influence on them and the way they approach their school work from here on out.
“I came to something similar to this when I was younger. I remember (former SU lacrosse player) Sean Lindsay was in the room and he talked to us. I really tried to pay attention to his advice and what he was saying and it had an influence on me and how I approached my academics the rest of my high school career.
Syracuse Gear Up is a collaborative effort between Syracuse University and the Syracuse City School District designed to increase the graduation rate and college attendance of students from sixteen schools in Syracuse. The program will follow this year's seventh and eighth grade students at eleven middle schools including: Beard, Blodgett, Clary, Danforth, Frazer, Grant, Huntington, Levy, Lincoln, Roberts and Shea. Syracuse Gear Up will follow the students through their time in high school at Corcoran, Fowler, Henninger, Nottingham and Central Technical High School (CT).
The program is also aligned with community agencies and business partnerships. The community agencies have been provided technology for these sites to be used by Gear Up students and families for study and career/college searches. Business partnerships include SUNY Upstate Medical University, LeMoyne College, Onondaga Community College and Partners for Education and Business, a consortium of over 100 local employers in Central New York, all serving students in their college and career searches.
Tuesday’s session was coordinated by Terry MacDonald, SU’s learning specialist in student-athlete services, and she said the idea behind the visit was to give middle school students the opportunity to hear some success stories.
“The Gear Up program is really trying to get students interested in pursuing college at an early age and to give them some support throughout the academic year,” Terry MacDonald said. “We’re trying to send the message that is a correlation between hard work and achievement and the student-athletes here today are examples of that.”
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