Teen-Agers Get a Big Lift From Program : Cal Lutheran: The students test physics by launching rockets as part of Upward Bound push to propel them on to college.

About a dozen students who are talented in math and science but from low-income families on Friday launched miniature rockets into the sky to test physics lessons they learned during a five-week program at Cal Lutheran University.

Like the electrical jolt that lit the rockets’ engines and shot them skyward, the Upward Bound program at Cal Lutheran aims to stimulate the teen-agers’ interest in math and science and propel them on to college.

The 50 students selected for the program from Ventura and Los Angeles counties will be tracked through the school year and return each summer until they graduate from high school. All the while, the program’s teachers and counselors will steer them through the maze of college applications and financial aid forms.

Funded by a three-year, $600,000 federal grant, the program is intended to boost the ranks of scientists and mathematicians by giving bright but disadvantaged high school students the background and confidence they need, said program director Helen Cox.

“A lot of us now are really, really sure we’re going to college, because we’re sure we’re going to have the money,” said La Toyya Wilson, a 16-year-old junior at Hueneme High School who dreams of a career in computer-aided engineering.

Similar Upward Bound programs have operated at Cal Lutheran for 13 years, but this is the first time that math and science have been emphasized, Cox said. Previously, the program targeted general studies, as it has at other sites nationwide since 1965, she said.

To qualify for the free school, the students had to be smart children from low-income families where neither parent has earned a college degree, Cox said. The candidates were recommended to the university by their schools.

Students from low-income families often are intimidated by higher education for a number of reasons, Cox said. Many of their peers are not going off to pursue scientific careers at a university, she said.

“We help them to realize they may have to be the leaders in that direction,” Cox said. The students also can feel overwhelmed by the cost of college, because their parents may not be able to contribute, Cox said. Students often are unaware of the variety of public and private financial aid opportunities, she said.

Rita Estanol of Oxnard confirmed that view. The 15-year-old Channel Islands High School sophomore said her sister worked full-time while she was in school to afford a college education.

“She had to pay for practically everything,” Rita said. “It took her seven years to graduate. She didn’t know about financial aid.”

The students attend seminars to learn more about where to find money and how to apply for it, Cox said.

“Part of our job is to find out about scholarships so money isn’t such a big fear,” Cox said.

However, students said the program not only demystifies college funding, it inspires creativity and excitement about learning.

“It’s much more intense than high school,” said Nelson Chavez, 16, of Oxnard. “The study is more deep here.”

Nelson, a junior at Channel Islands High School, said the program has helped him decide what he wants to do.

“If it doesn’t get invented, I want to invent an injection for HIV to kill the virus,” Nelson said.

Students in the program, grouped by age, studied math and English throughout the five-week summer school and then alternated among four natural sciences, Cox said.

In chemistry, they designed a limestone processing plant and learned to balance chemical equations, while in physics they built rockets. In marine biology, the students learned about salinity and sea life and took an ocean field trip on a UCLA research boat. They learned about genetic coding in biotechnology class.

Natasha Barrow, 15, of Los Angeles, said she never used to study hard for high school classes because they seemed easy. Upward Bound got her in the habit of cracking the books, she said, but not because the material was too hard.

“The stuff was just so interesting that I chose to study,” the Dorsey High School sophomore said.