Project Success is a high school program that removes barriers to college and career access and increases a CIS student’s ability to succeed in life after high school. The program provides individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, field trips to area colleges/universities and local corporations, assistance with SAT/ACT testing college applications, financial aid and scholarship assistance.
To enhance Project Success, and to impact more young lives, CIS developed Bootcamp. In line with O’Keefe’s (1989) study of college outdoor orientation programs, Bootcamp is an intensive eight week summer program led by CIS staff and alumni. It’s an adventure wilderness program providing the necessary skills to help our young people be accomplished and productive citizens in our community. Bootcampers learn leadership skills, participate in team building activities, and receive GRIT training (persistence, determination and resilience). They go on field trips to local businesses and colleges to discover insider tips on career opportunities, industry expectations, college resources, resume building and interviewing skills. University professors and community business leaders teach study and time management skills, professor expectations, dressing for business success, banking skills, interviewing skills, and business expectations. And they help with community projects — food distribution, volunteering at local churches, and working on service projects at Texas State parks. One camper summed up their experience….” CIS has given me new friends who have become family. Knowledge not only for college but for the rest of my life, it has given me the strength to hold on for a better tomorrow and forget my struggles of yesterday. I am not the same person I was before this camp…It has changed me for the better….It’s calming knowing I have these people I can trust. I know they have my back. They make me feel important and loved and that the impossible is possible because “I am a living story. I will not give up.” – CIS Bootcamp Participant
