Hampton Bays to participate in SUNY Stony Brook "Future Scholars" cohort, district awarded 20 slots

The Hampton Bays Union Free School District announced Wednesday that it has been allotted 20 seats for a new SUNY Stony Brook Future Scholars program that aims to give academically promising, economically disadvantaged and first-generation college students sustained mentoring and college exposure.

Superintendent Larry Clements described the program as modeled on a cohort he said the Stony Brook interim president launched previously at Rutgers University. The program targets rising eighth graders who are both economically disadvantaged and the first in their families to attend college. Cohorts meet for a week on the university campus each summer and participate in year-round mentoring, team-building and academic supports.

Clements said Stony Brook plans a regional cohort of about 100 students drawn from Bridgehampton, Southampton, Hampton Bays, Tuckahoe and Riverhead; Hampton Bays has 20 slots. He described the program as a five-year cohort: participants would continue to receive support through high school, and "five years later, when they get to their twelfth grade year, if they apply to Stony Brook and are accepted on their merits, they will have a tuition-free experience there," Clements said, adding that fees, room and board are not covered.

Clements said he had been appointed to a committee working to revitalize the Southampton campus and that the new program is an immediate step in that partnership. He said the district will begin identifying qualifying students in the coming weeks and initiating orientation and mentoring activities.

The board did not take a formal vote on the partnership at the meeting; the superintendent presented it as an operational item and an opportunity for the district to expand college pathways for eligible students.