[Music] established in 1967 and codified in 1970 with the enactment of new york state education law six four five two the educational opportunity program or AOP was among the first formalized access and support service structures in the country in operation at forty seven SUNY campuses VOP is modeled on the seek program which stands for search for education elevation and knowledge a program that was established in 1966 in the City University the program was conceived of and sponsored by then first year New York State Assemblyman Arthur o Eve with support of the Rockefeller administration as well as the black and Puerto Rican legislative caucus subsequent legislation established the higher education Opportunity Program or h EO p at new york private institutions program design was forward thinking in that eligibility was based upon socioeconomic status rather than race and approach figuring prominently in the current dialogue on access due to the significant intersection of low-income and underrepresented populations this approach has permitted the program to provide access to the full range of low-income students the educational opportunity program has evolved into a successful model for meeting the needs of at-risk students and has served as a template for other access programs both within and external to the university the historic impact of the educational opportunity program at suny was envisioned by the first administrator of peel special programs dr. James s smooth the following retrospective bears out his prophecy I love people of goodwill and ability were getting their act together and we were going to bring a change a change not only in society but for me a change in education the way that we talk the first challenge was having members of that large and sprawling institution come together around a common commitment I mean after all programs exist only in our heads we think ideas we think special program you can't touch it you can't feeling it's in our head and heart so the way you move a program forward initially is to get the right ideas in people's heads history is changed when men and women from all walks of life are inspired to a common ground by their uncommon commitment so it was from the first stirrings of special programs a confluence of commitment by at first a few leaders in education and government we wanted to create a program so that the injured of our society could occupy a positions of power the black Puerto Rican and Hispanic Caucus went to the speaker's office really to push during budget time to ensure that that the budget included funding for their young people that were looking seeking to go to college as the program well his name seek much is made of the so-called midnight March the what midnight is there after midnight that we met with on your trial yeah and he agreed to it Republicans joined Democrats in this endeavor and I felt we had a moral obligation to do this Araki you is very anxious to do it [Music] all the ease god bless him took all of this and went into the state colleges as I said probably get private and expanding it expanded it far beyond my believe at the time we did it and that is flipping through that budget I saw a program in New York City that was called the seek program and that program really caught my eye because I'd had the experience of having to leave college because I didn't have enough money to stay in school I sort of focused on that particular program to see if I could get that program started somewhat similar program in the state university system and so that was probably one of the proudest accomplishments of my first year there's a meager five hundred thousand dollars to get the what we then called the seat program for the State University of New York I give God and Percy Sutton credit for starting CEO pH EOP because if that was not in the budget I don't think I was smart enough to developed and do all the research and come up with a finding 249 disadvantaged students braved a new world of educational opportunity at Buffalo State in the fall of 1967 renamed the educational opportunity program in only its second year it expanded to ten campuses enrolling nearly 1,000 students by 1969 there were more than 2500 yo P students on 18 campuses with the turn of the decade DOP programs existed on 30 campuses creating in effect a new institution I think ya bear that in mind it was the campuses yes but it was beyond the campuses we were creating almost conceptually a semi autonomous program with its own initiatives and directors who are going to have some authority on their own there were many tight times I remembered years in the history when we were all told that this program was going to fold and a lot of individuals got on the phones and tried to work very hard and we are very fortunate to have key players in the legislature like that we speaker II for example one year we had some major problem in the third year so I called the buff state and said do you have a graduate somebody who's graduated from the C keopi program since you were the first one I need to have someone Buffalo State answered Eve's call by sending its first seek GOP graduate to testify to the assembly my name is Martha Pierce and I'm the first GOP graduate of State University College at Buffalo and I graduated in January 1971 you know when I when I look over everything that I've done and everything that I've been through in terms of my academic my foundation was a counselor I'm in McFadden who took an interest in a student who was so overwhelmed with college that I academics was secondary and she put me back on track I'm just so thankful because again without that when you know I I think because we come from wherever and we're just very free and we're just so overwhelmed we still need tough councils to say hey get a grip this is why you're here you've lost focus but I haven't lost focus for you I'm not giving up on you you're gonna pay attention you're gonna do what you need to do we concentrate on the person the whole person we make them think no what do you like you told me this about your mom you told me this about your brothers and sisters you told me this about your upbringing no let's really look at your person and find out what's going to make you happy and successful as an adult man I went back home and there was locked I think I saw her in the hallway crying if I remember correctly and I pulled her into mouth as I said what's going on my mom least I guess battle was Alchemist she she was distraught and she said she didn't know what she was gonna do she told me her mother had kicked her out so I started letting her know okay you need to calm down I'm going to help you it might not be today but before this summer comes you will have a place to stay and she did that summer Yahaira lived on campus and afterwards stayed there year-round some of these kids have lives that are so complicated that they need a lot more and that's what we do the way we are in the department we're gonna find a way to help you I attended SUNY Geneseo through a ope because it was better for my family to afford it the regular admissions you probably wouldn't have been able to afford to go to this school or many other schools the support of the staff and also the advisors that were there they helped us along the way they give us advice so that kind of you know I'm more supported and my guidance and courage to get through it my name is Isaac Jones I attend city purchase and sophomore the EOP program is really helpful to me because free tutoring and just being able to go and go into married that's my counselor right now talk to her about problems I'm having with either academics or it just you could go in and talk about anything and it's it's really it's a big family yo P has given me the support that I needed to hit the ground running without ELP I don't know where I would be I'm fortunate to now mentor incoming ALP freshmen and hopefully change somebody's college experience but it better like my mentor Jesse out of all the other programs that I have got accepted to serve different schools the EOP program was really welcoming and they were the first one to reach out to me and made me feel welcomed into the college community so that was the breaking point for me and made me decide to come to this you know one of the greatest resources to a okie gets their students is tutoring and their emotional support from their staff if you're deciding to come to Geneseo through ALP definitely come because of the support that you will receive the financial help that you will receive and the friends that you make through AOP because we truly are family coming to the Geneseo through a ope is probably one of the best decisions you can ever make it's not simply out because of the support to give you both the el growth for your experience my name is Jenna Walker and I am AOP my name is Sasha Nunez and I am Aoki Marquis Riggins I'm a playwriting and screenwriting major at Purchase College and the EOP to me means togetherness remember who can people without EOD the educational opportunity for wear that's connecting the county community violence has been a part of this institutions history sin field without doors in 1969 as a proud ALP and SCC alum and the director of the EOP we want you to hear the voices of our students hi my name is Noemi Torres I'm a part of the EOP program here at every Community College using the tutors here they really helped me gain a lot of core conflict hi guys my name is available I'm currently a sophomore at Mooresville State College and I'm also a ELP student what you'll be means to me is a fresh start not only is just starting off academically but also building a new family as well hi I'm a sophomore here at was no State College ELP literally means everything see if it wouldn't be me I probably want to accomplish it these updates before I come as a 4.0 I'm going to sto vice president and when I converse stress I always have probably not my IOP counselor helped me because they kept me focused when you tell me that I'm not gonna get my money if I don't do this if I don't get this grade that is an influencing factor that is far greater than anything else because I knew that I needed the economic assistance in order to stay here I knew because I came from a low-income family that if I didn't get it that I wouldn't have a chance to do anything else and I would have to live in the projects and be stuck forever GOP students were provided with additional educational assistance and tutoring that all of the students benefited from lift it up not just me it looked at my whole family and lifted up my door I was a seafood but look at my kid she's a Harvard graduate she's a Columbia University graduate she's our partner in a law firm okay I'm the first person to admit it to college and I'll definitely the first to become a doctor now my son is also a doctor because the eel piece that I'm George the DLP was one of the ways that I really got to where I am today it unlocked a very valuable piece of the puzzle VOP gave me the opportunity really to make the transition from being an inner-city youth to a large university without a opie I'm certain that I would not have been here today I grew up in 50 cyrus in the brooklyn single parent raising three kids she told us that education was the only way out she couldn't afford it though something was before ELP I wouldn't go into college who knows what would happen to me without EOP I don't know where I would have been and it's made possible for me to better my life and better the people around me and I am very grateful to the programs and Arthur o Eve for all that they have done to make it possible my name is Sheryl Hamilton and I have the honor of serving as associate provost and director of opportunity programs for the State University of New York the educational opportunity program has changed the economic trajectory for these students their families and their communities presently the educational opportunity program is leading the way in terms of promoting social mobility among our State University of New York students the educational opportunity program has developed an evidence-based multi-dimensional multi-pronged approach to promoting student success in fact the educational opportunity program model in and of itself is often referenced as a best practice or a series of best practices in promoting success in higher education my vision for the program is basically expansion we're looking to serve more students clearly we know we know what it takes to bring these students in prepare them so they can hit the ground running and so that they can be successful my goal is to expand experiencial learning opportunities for our students we want to see more of our EOPS students involved in undergraduate research we want more of our students to participate in internship opportunities we want to see more of our EOPS students studying abroad it's our goal to prepare our students for success in this global society I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to educational opportunity program family my family our directors our counselors our instructors and our tutors for your work in creating an ecosystem of support for our students to our Chancellor our provost and chairman McCaul we thank you for supporting and sustaining this program so that we can continue to succeed through the 21st century none of this would have been possible without the wonderful work a deputy speaker the Honorable dr. Arthur o Eve I want to say from the bottom of my heart to Deputy Speaker Eve we thank you we appreciate your vision and we appreciate your unrelenting advocacy for this program 50 years more than 70,000 graduates thank you it's all about expectation and so many of the kids have no one who's giving them high expectation today I'm with the criminal defense attorney and it's as what I love to do as a passion and GOP and the support staff and the people there really help me define that direction well I'm doing on-camera work I work as a freelance reporter for New Jersey Network I'm also a working actor I do voiceovers commercials and and feature films actually I had a film last year when for the Latino Film Festival HBO so thank you very grateful to the educational opportunity program and without them I probably wouldn't be standing here before you this evening currently I'm a deputy assistant public defender for the state of Connecticut I'm a lawyer for the public defender's office I provide services for those people who cannot provide services for themselves the chief of the investigation division for the problem year Human Services I'm a radio personality for 98.7 kids FM in New York and largely because of the EOP program for giving me the broadcasting education that I needed I'm a news director for a TV show called transit transit news reached about 22 million homes in New York tri-state area last year we won an Emmy this year we went our second nomination I have two Emmys my mother traveled from South Carolina to my graduation and I was probably the first time in my life that I had seen her cry tears of joy as opposed to tears of sadness and I close with my favorite illustration it's not mine it's Benjamin Eli's remains dr. may said there were two men in a race one on the left he had astroturf track he had aerodynamic shorts they had cut holes in him so the wind would just blow through as he ran he had spikes on his track shoes and he had been in training for nine months they taught him how to eat the right food and how to breathe and they made him do calisthenics and they gave him starting blocks so that he could get his balance and then they told him make sure that you keep your eye on the prize look at the finish line don't look down look at where you gotta go then there's the other run he didn't have any shoes no astroturf matter of fact he had rusty nails broken glass and splinters in his track shorts no they cut off a pair of jeans no starting blocks they just dug two holes in the ground and he didn't have anything decent to eat you know he was eating cheeseburgers all day you know nothing good nothing no training and he just looked down nobody ever told him to keep his eye on the prize oh and one more thing he had a ball and chain attached to his ankle on your mark get set hey well who jumped out in front let's run over here freezing down the track people cheering it right now the other feller what's happening to him you got Tom Morales Southern run damn it run don't care where you come from okay how broke you are run make sure you run you got off the Eve's saying run drag that ball and chain drag it do what you can run and you know what some of us made it I am dr. Avadon I'm about to graduate a medical school I trained a family medicine practice in New York trained in neurology and then went to the west coast to UCLA to to do full-time research I just took a position as associate professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale so I basically do research in medicine and I'm an academic as it were and they're happy to be so Believe It or Not feet bleeding stumbling and falling out of breath not really knowing what direction we're headed but we kept running and then all of a sudden all the Percy Sutton Adam Clayton Powell Martin Luther King bunch of the Thurgood Marshall like that they come along stop the race Jimmy stop the race yeah stop it we're gonna stand right here you can run over us stop it what do you want us to do take this fellow right here yeah he'll his feet give him some track shoes give him some starting blocks give him some aerodynamic shorts teach him how to breathe let him eat the right food give him some counseling tell him to keep his eye on the finish line you know and yes cut that ball and chain off of his ankle and then what we've done all that then stop this fella and bring him right up here so they're equal and then do what shoot the gun again and you know what happens when you shoot the gun again you get Fred brood yeah I'm a practicing lawyer on Long Island where I have a the largest african-american own law firm on Long Island and it's only because I had a chance to get an education I hadn't had that opportunity I wouldn't be where I am today thank goodness to ye o P and thank goodness to my mom you get Joelle Pierluigi currently I'm an attorney in house I'm a staff attorney for SUNY system so I've come back home you get all these men and women who are going to be honored today when you shoot the gun again and everybody's had an equal opportunity to succeed and run you get a fair race and that's all that America is about [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] she's got a car oh yes [Music] my dear mother [Music] [Music]