In the month of February, Valentine's Day reminds us how relationships play such an important role in ourlives. Unfortunately, nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from adating partner in a single year. One in ten high school students has been purposefully hit, slapped or physicallyhurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend. Young women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rate ofintimate partner violence which is almost triple the national average. Among female victims of intimate partnerviolence, 94% of those age 16-19 and 70% of those age 20-24 were victimized by a current or former boyfriendor girlfriend.

Violent relationships in adolescence can have seriousconsequences by putting the victims at higher risk for substanceabuse, eating disorders, and further domestic violence. Only 33% ofteens who were in a violent relationship ever told anyone about theabuse. Though 82% of parents feel confident that they couldrecognize the signs if their child was experiencing dating abuse,58% of parents could not correctly identify all the warning signs ofabuse. If you're curious, we got our statistics on domestic violencefrom this source.

As we go forward in our lives, we should all take the time toexamine our relationships and our roles in them. Make sure tocheck on your friends and be open about any abuse you, orsomeone you know, are facing. You can find a helpful quiz onhealthy relationships here. If you would like to learn more abouthealthy relationships and find more resources, feel free to talk toour TRIO Staff or find more information here.

Interested in learning more? Check out this website.

Count BasieBorn August 21, 1904. Known asone of jazz music’s all-timegreatest. Count Basie, abandleader/pianist, was aprimary shaper of the big-bandsound that characterized mid-20th century popular music.

Ann Cole LoweBorn December 14, 1898. Knownas the first African American tobecome a noted fashiondesigner. She was best knownfor designing the wedding dressworn by Jacqueline Bouvier whenshe married John F. Kennedy in1953.

Jesse Leroy BrownBorn October 13, 1926. He wasthe first AfricanAmerican aviator to completethe U.S Navy’s basic flighttraining program. He was also arecipient of the DistinguishedFlying Cross and was thefirst African American navalofficer killed in the Korean War.

Dr. SebiBorn Alfredo Bowman onNovember 26, 1933. He was aself-educated man and creatednatural vegetation cell foodcompounds geared for inter-cellular cleansing and therevitalization of all the cells thatmake up the human body.

Henrietta LacksBorn on August 1, 1920. Shewas an African Americanwoman whose cancer cells arethe source of the HeLa cell line,the first immortalized humancell line and one of the mostimportant cell lines in medicalresearch

Black History Month is a time tocelebrate the diversity thatmakes America great andremember the hardships of thepeople who fought forthe freedom of all. Below aresome lesser known people ofcolor that made significantcontributions to the fabric ofour society and culture.

Go to this button toview the KSU TRIOFebruary Calendar andadd the events to yourphone by clicking theevent on the portal.

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Zykarius Harshaw, Polk UBZy has been a part of ourprogram from the very beginning!He has grown in leaps andbounds since he first began. Thispast fall Zy participated in ourACT BootCamp and dedicatedhis every Saturday for 9 weeks toprepping for the ACT. InDecember, he took his first ACTand scored a 21, the highestscore in our program! Zy hasrecently applied to the NationalCenter for Student Leadershipconference in Washington, DC.He hopes to join 180 TRIO highschool students at GeorgetownUniversity to partake in a mockcongress, leadership training, andcultural events. We are incrediblyproud of our Student of theMonth, Zy Harshaw!

Elio Vargas, UBMSElio Vargas was chosen to be theStudent of the Month for theUBMS Program. He is in thetwelfth grade, has a 3.8 GPA, andscored a 28 on his ACT. Elio hasbeen an integral part of theUBMS Program from its start in2017. He always wears a smile,is respectful to adults as well ashis peers, and is always ready tolend a helping hand. Elio hasalso been involved with the TRiODrone Program and is currentlyin Phase 3 preparing to take theFAA Pilot’s Test to become acertified Drone Pilot. Elio plansto attend Kennesaw StateUniversity in the fall. We are sovery proud of Elio and all of hisaccomplishments! When you seehim, please congratulate him forall of his hard work!

Chenese Griffith Hiram UBThis month’s student of themonth for Hiram Upward Boundis Chenese Griffith! Chenesehas been a UB member sinceyear one and has maintainedthe 80% commitment duringboth academic and summersessions. She is currently asenior that has committed toAlbany State where she willmajor in forensics. Chenesemakes a point to stop by the UBoffice every day to check in andoffer to help during her freeperiod. She is smart, motivated,and always willing help others!Thank you for all you do,Chenese, we appreciate yourhard work and the energy youbring to our program!

If you are going to be a participant in the TRIO Girl's Lock In, please go take our quicksurvey using this link!