High school students whose parents did not attend college are 20 percent less likely to enroll in college than students whose parents earned a bachelor’s degree, and those who do enroll are almost 20 percent less likely to graduate than their peers with college-educated parents, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. These disparities are widespread, and for the past 16 years, the Summer Enrichment Program at Dartmouth (SEAD) has been addressing them as such.

This year, though, the school’s college access mentoring program is shifting its focus to its own backyard — where it hopes to maximize its impact and more effectively serve the local community. Instead of working with high schools around the country, the program, which matches promising first-generation and low-income high school students with Dartmouth students, will begin working only with Upper Valley schools. Partnering this year with Hartford High School, Stevens High School in Claremont and Rivendell Academy in Orford, the program also will be restructured to best support students in their quest for college success.

“The proximity to the new partners allows us to engage meaningfully on a year-round basis,” said Tracy Dustin-Eichler, director of Dartmouth’s Center for Social Impact, which runs the SEAD program.

Working with about 25 students from the three partnering schools, SEAD mentors will support students in a variety of ways, beginning in their sophomore year of high school and continuing through their freshman year in college, in contrast with past years, when SEAD scholars received mentoring for their four years of high school.

“We just wanted to bridge that pivot point that happens between the end of your high school career and first year of college,” said Ashley Doolittle, associate director of the Center for Social Impact. “It might be the first time that they’re making important decisions like whether to go to class.”

Historically a summer program with a year-round internship component, SEAD will now operate in partner schools throughout the academic year as well as in the summer. After speaking with high school staff about their needs and working with them to identify students who could benefit from SEAD, Dustin-Eichler and Doolittle conducted interviews with applicants last week.

Scholars will begin working with mentors this summer in the intensive summer program. In the fall, cohorts of mentors will visit each school for two hours a week during after-school hours. As scholars enter college, mentors will continue their relationship through some sort of digital platform.

While the goal of SEAD is straightforward, its approach is multi-faceted, Dustin-Eichler said. Along with providing guidance in choosing, applying to and paying for college , mentors will offer academic support and enrichment as well as conducting activities designed to “broaden horizons.” That might include visits to art galleries, libraries or recreational sites.

“The idea is to expand their view of what the Upper Valley has to offer,” Dustin-Eichler said. That enlarged view might in turn inspire students to think bigger about their own ambitions, she said.

SEAD organizers re-imagined the program after conducting a year-long evaluation of their own practices and of best practices around the country. A key finding of their research was that rural, low-income students are the most underrepresented demographic in post-secondary institutions. Another notable finding was that proximity correlated closely with success because mentors could have more consistent contact and build deeper relationships with scholars, Doolittle said.

Hartford High School principal Nelson Fogg agrees that relationships are paramount.

“I think often a young person’s decision to go to college or not is affected by a lot of things,” Fogg said. “One of the critical pieces to me is the mentorship that SEAD provides. They’re going to be talking to kids who are in college … hopefully that will open their minds to their ability to go to some sort of post high school educational experience. It’s often more about a mindset than it is about anything else.”

Fogg is also enthusiastic about the practical support in matters such as navigating the financial aid process that SEAD scholars will gain from the experience.

The program has a strong record of helping underprivileged students gain access to and succeed in higher education settings. Over the past several years, approximately 90 percent of SEAD scholars have enrolled in some form of higher education, Dustin-Eichler said. And anecdotally, it’s made a clear impact on students’ lives.

“Part of the reason it has endured for 17 years is that it is very beloved by Dartmouth students, by SEAD scholars and by schools, and we’re excited to bring that kind of commitment and passion to the local community,” Doolittle said.

As they shift their focus to the Upper Valley, organizers also have worked to match former partnering schools around the country with institutions in their own regions, Doolittle said.

Nor do they plan to neglect the big picture. “The other piece of this is the opportunity for Dartmouth students to study the topic of college access and understand what the barriers are and how they can mitigate those barriers,” Dustin-Eichler said. “How does that translate not only to the work that we’re doing in the Upper Valley, but how do we approach that as a national issue?”

Sarah Earle can be reached at searle@vnews.com and 603-727-3268.