For its last meeting of the semester, Philanthropy Committee invited the scholars of the Clinton A Better Chance (ABC) Program to the weekly Student Assembly meeting in honor of the committee’s recent donation of $1000 to the ABC organization. Four of the six scholars of Clinton ABC attended to speak about what the organization provides for these students.
Clinton ABC provides academically motivated but educationally underserved young men of color the opportunity to spend their high school years at Clinton High School. Each year, Clinton ABC recruits two freshmen scholars, typically from inner cities, who demonstrate academic promise and financial need. The scholars reside at the Clinton ABC House in a College-owned house on Campus Road.
ABC students have free access to the College’s facilities, including the library, fitness center, pool, field house and theatre, and Hamilton College students serve as tutors during ABC study hours. Upon graduation, ABC scholars typically attend highly ranked universities, such as Emory, Princeton, Cornell and Hamilton College.
The ABC scholars are supervised by Travis Hill, the program’s resident director, who provides parental-type and familial-type support. In addition local families volunteer to serve as “host families” to the scholars. Every Sunday the scholars are invited to spend time with a host family to foster a more welcoming integration to the community.
The Clinton ABC’s program covers tuition, room and board. The program relies entirely upon donations from the local community and fundraising to cover the operating expenses of about $100,000. However, the program recently experienced challenges in the past few years in meeting the needs of the scholars, especially due to the economic climate and sometimes, unanticipated expenses.
Student Assembly created the Philanthropy Committee to benefit Hamilton College and the local community by fundraising and promoting community service across campus. Philanthropy Committee hopes to raise more awareness about this local cause and encourage more student organizations to fundraise for the ABC Program. To learn more about this organization or the donation process, please contact abchouse@hamilton.edu.