A new program developed by three Cornell University students promises to help more of Ithaca's urban teens get into college.

It's among the 16 Leadership Service Projects developed by Park Fellows at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, along with a venture capital fund for socially responsible local businesses and first-aid training to help police dogs injured in the line of duty.

High school students whose parents didn't go to college, particularly urban teens with little family support or financial resources, are less likely to go to college themselves, explained Cassandra Nelson, a Cornell University graduate (B.S. '81) who now runs the teen program at the Great Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) in Ithaca, N.Y.

They often end up starting too late, then giving up, said Nelson, because there isn't enough time to figure out where to go and what to do to get there -- or their families may think they can't afford to send their kids to college.

Intent on improving the situation for Ithaca-area high school students, Nelson linked up with Stacy Lalin, Jennifer McNamara and Angela Ailloni-Charas, three students who are Park fellows in Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management. In return for full tuition and fees, the fellows must undertake a Service Leadership Project that will leave something "of lasting value in the community."

"We knew we wanted to do something that would involve young people and education as our project," said McNamara.

The three talked to guidance counselors and did research, discovering that there was an enormous amount of material on college admissions, but "amazingly there's no one book on the market that walks you through the process," said McNamara. "What we did was put everything you need to know in a condensed format that's manageable and useable."

They produced two spiral-bound books, a College Connection Student Guide and companion Teacher's Guide that together are a comprehensive program making it easier for urban teens who attend GIAC to get into the right college.

The Student Guide begins with a self assessment designed to help high schoolers figure out what they are really interested in. It includes a month-by-month "to do" calendar focused on students' junior and senior years. A section on choosing the right college summarizes the kinds that are out there and how students might match them to their own needs and personalities. A section called "Completing the Application" breaks the process into six simple steps and includes a checklist to help students stay on track. There are also sections on writing the ubiquitous application essay, taking standardized tests and finding and getting financial aid.

One useful section aims to help African American high school students decide if going to an historically black college is the right choice for them. Another helps parents understand what they need to do ("Separate your own aspirations from those of your child") and not do. A third is directed at students with learning disabilities and those whose native language isn't English.

There is also a section on how to involve younger siblings in the college admissions process and the addresses of helpful web sites on college admission. An appendix includes sample documents such as the standard financial aid form, independent sources for financial aid in general and assistance for African American and Latino students in particular, and names and addresses of historically black and Hispanic colleges.

The teacher's guide spells out teachers' and parents' responsibilities and lays out an eight-session curriculum that will take place throughout the school year. Among other things, the courses demystify standardized tests and financial aid availability.

"I can see it being of very lasting value," said GIAC's Nelson. "Nothing like it exists in the community." Fifty-seven high school students and their families have already registered for the program, she says. They will meet this June for an orientation session, then regroup in late August to determine a fall schedule that works for everyone.

"We're gratified that this will happen, that students will be taking advantage of it this fall," said McNamara who, with her teammates, trained volunteers from next year's crop of Park fellows to act as program tutors.

The guides were paid for by the Park Foundation and will be given to each of the participating students as well as made available on GIAC's library shelf. Their guides also will be on a web site that students will be able to access from school or home.

The College Connection was one of 16 "do-good" projects completed this year by Park fellows. The list of the projects and the students who undertook them follows.

In the local community:

• a study on what makes people adopt pets at the Tompkins County SPCA, and how those numbers might be boosted even further (Megan Nightengale).
• a program to train local law enforcement officers in giving emergency care to police dogs that are injured in the line of duty (Adam Unger).
• a plan to keep WVBR economically viable; the Collegetown-based nonprofit radio station is a training ground for area students interested in radio careers (Austin Rothbart and Brian Thompson).
• Air Ithaca, a project to find an additional air service provider for Tompkins County (Michael Edson and Joel Mussat).
• a plan to help Tompkins County nonprofit groups produce more meaningful reports for their constituents and, as a result, attract more funding (Peter Bright, Chris Floyd and Glen Lindgren).
• programming, funding and organizational structure for Ithaca's Southside Community Center (Jonathan Alford, Jack Higgins and Dave Shultz).
• a feasibility study for a Finger Lakes wine center to attract more tourism to the area (Don Douglas, Erik Jepson and Terri Reilly).

Three projects involving the Alternatives Federal Credit Union:

• a project to expand the credit union's lending programs and resources to low-income residents in Cortland and rural Tompkins counties (Kwadwo Asare, Matthew Flippen).
• a plan to develop and grow a venture capital fund for socially responsible local business ventures (Charles Ribaudo and Scott Docie ).
• a proposal to help low-income rural residents get needed mortgages and loans (Barbara Sullivan and Margaret Hamm).

At Cornell:

• a proposal for an e-business mini-intensive course and curriculum for Johnson School and Cornell students (Caitlin Krier and David Reich).
• a student-run venture capital fund and idea incubator for new businesses; such a fund would train students for careers in venture capital funding and entrepreneurship (John Kyles and Alex Ivanov -- see http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/April00/Venture.cap.fund.html ).
• Center for Democracy, a plan to create at Cornell an annual symposium series dedicated to the development of democracy in Africa (Kwadwo Asare and Barbara Sullivan).
• a commercial business plan for the Agricultural, Resource and Managerial Economics (ARME) program in Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (Steven Case).
• a strategy to make Cornell Outdoor Education financially self sufficient (Sandy Draper and Jim Dawson).

"Community service is something my family has always believed in and is fortunate enough to continue through the foundation," said Roy H. Park Jr., first vice president of the Park Foundation. "The fellows' extensive accomplishments in the community set the kind of leadership examples the business world needs."

Park, along with his mother, Dorothy Park, sister, Adelaide Gomer, and daughter, Elizabeth Fowler, are the four family trustees of the Park Foundation, named for Roy H. Park, the late media entrepreneur and Ithaca, N.Y., resident. A $5.9 million gift from the Park Foundation helped inaugurate the program in 1997.