Jumpstart

K–12 Education Outreach

Students and families in Camden City seek engaging and rigorous educational experiences, both during and outside of the school day, that will increase the academic achievement of students and provide a pathway to higher education

Education Initiatives

The Office of Civic Engagement K–12 Education Outreach initiatives focus on engaging the critical resources of the University to create academically enriching and rigorous programming for students in grades K–12 and creating educational pathways to increase the number of underrepresented students in and around the city of Camden who apply, enroll, and successfully complete post-secondary education.

Rutgers–Camden Ignite

This collaborative education program is driven by and concentrated in the North Camden community, a neighborhood of Camden, New Jersey.

Hill Family Center for Access

Providing the support and guidance needed to students and their families, the Hill Center helps to ensure access to and preparation for success in college. 

North Camden Schools Partnership

This collaboration among Rutgers–Camden, the Camden City School District,  Camden Community Charter School, and North Camden Elementary School serves over 250 students in grades 4–8 and their families.

Rutgers Future Scholars

Economically disadvantaged, academically promising students from eighth grade through high school receive ongoing academic support, enrichment, personal guidance, and mentoring in preparation their futures.

Rutgers–Camden Ignite

Rutgers–Camden Ignite is a collaborative education program driven by and concentrated in the North Camden community, a neighborhood of Camden, New Jersey.

  • Through after-school and extracurricular learning, the combined efforts of our partners spark community learning and discovery in Camden:

    • elementary and middle school students
    • their parents, teachers, and schools support staffs
    • civic-minded college students, volunteers, faculty, and staff at Rutgers University–Camden
    • a host of Ignite partners from Camden City and its surrounding region
    • the New Jersey Department of Education
  • To spark student discovery through STEM, art, athletics, and literacy enrichment, mentoring, and college exposure for North Camden students in grade 4–8 after school and during the summer.

    • Generate a student interest in and capability of attending and completing college.
    • Improve student academic achievement and conduct through inquiry-based instruction and high-quality programming.
    • Collaborate with school staff to align and complement programming with school day instruction in order to assist school staff in reaching their goals.
    • Promote parental involvement by providing opportunities to plan and engage in programming.
    • Enhance university-based instruction in order to assist school staff in reaching their goals.
    • Improve and adjust programming based on routine evaluations.
  • Ignite serves approximately 250 students in extended-day programming at Camden Community Charter School, Cooper’s Poynt, Mastery School’s North Camden Elementary, Molina, and Pyne Poynt during the Camden City School District academic year.

    A Rutgers–Camden student site coordinator and school-based master teacher co-coordinate each of these programs. During the summer, 100 students take part in Ignite on the Rutgers–Camden campus. Certified teachers implement remediation lessons and a variety of partners, students, and teachers engage students in project based learning clubs, whose results are showcased at the end of each semester and summer. Rutgers–Camden undergraduate students serve as education ambassadors, or assistant teachers.

    Ignite is one program within the North Camden Schools Partnerships initiative, which aims to maximize student learning and strengthen families and their neighborhood through leveraging university resources, while also enhancing the education of Rutgers–Camden students and faculty research.

  • Rutgers–Camden Ignite is made possible through a five-year 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program grant from the New Jersey Department of Education, awarded in fall, 2012.

  • Please contact Tinishia A. Bass at Tinishia.Bass@rutgers.edu

Hill Family Center for College Access

The Hill Family Center for College Access at Rutgers University–Camden seeks to create a more robust college-going culture in the city of Camden and the region by providing the support and guidance needed to students and their families to ensure access to and preparation for success in post-secondary education.

  • The Hill Center strives to be the go-to source of pre-college assistance and information for local students, families, and schools. 

    The Hill Center provides college preparation workshops in high schools and on campus for students in grades 11 and 12, students we call Strivers. Trained undergraduate and graduate students serve as Ambassadors, assisting the Strivers and their families in understanding higher education options, exploring career and academic interests, and securing secure financial aid through scholarships and FAFSA completion.

    One-on-one support and mentoring is provided to Strivers in completing personal statements, building resumes, securing recommendations, and managing deadlines. Strivers can participate in college visits, SAT preparation courses, and tutoring.

    Since opening in 2011, the Hill Center has served more than 1,000 Strivers in and around the city of Camden.

    For younger students, the Hill Center offers workshops to students in grades 6–10 to build early college awareness using the Sallie Mae Kids2College curriculum and provides on-campus tours at Rutgers–Camden to expose students to college life.

  • Post-Secondary Education Advising

    We assist students and their families in making thoughtful decisions regarding post-secondary education. The staff of the Hill Family Center serve as guides to students and families about the range of post-secondary options available based on the interests of the student. We will never make a decision for you; we will help you come to a comfortable decision about next steps. 

    College Pathway Sessions

    We provide hands-on workshops engaging students in real life scenarios to educate and prepare them for post-secondary opportunities and challenges to assist students in understanding how to make the best decisions.

    Academic Assistance

    We provide group and one-on-one tutoring for students who seek assistance with homework, papers, projects, and presentations.

    Parental Support

    Parents and legal guardians are strongly encouraged to come to the Hill Family Center and be active participants in the post-secondary transition process of their child.  

  • The Hill Family Center is located in the lower level of the Paul Robeson Library on the campus of Rutgers University–Camden.

    Rutgers University-Camden
    67 Penn Street
    Camden, NJ 08102

  • The Hill Family Center for College Access was founded through the generosity of twin brothers Washington and George Hill, who grew up in Camden and graduated from Rutgers University–Camden. 

    Washington Hill is an internationally recognized expert in high-risk maternal-fetal medicine. After earning his M.D. from Temple University, he served as a medical officer in the U.S. Army before launching his private practice. He served as the 65th president of the Central Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious associations in that field.

    George Hill is a scholar whose molecular and biochemical research has advanced biomedical science worldwide. He earned his M.S. degree from Howard University and his Ph.D. from New York University, and was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Cambridge University. He also was elected a fellow to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Microbiology.

    Both brothers are members of the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a Rutgers graduate

North Camden Schools Partnership

The Rutgers–North Camden Schools Partnership is a collaboration between Rutgers University–Camden, the Camden City School District,  Camden Community Charter School, and North Camden Elementary School. The partnership serves over 250 students in grades 4–8 and their families in five schools in the North Camden neighborhood, using a university-assisted community schools approach.

  • Working in collaboration with school leadership, staff, families, and community organizations, the goal of the partnership is to increase student achievement by providing an integrated system of partnerships that promote academic success, support positive social and emotional development, and engage families and community members in an effort to strengthen the North Camden neighborhood. 

    Modeled after an approach developed by the Netter Center of Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania, the university-assisted community school initiative is focused on mobilizing the vast resources of the University in service to the students and families of the North Camden community. This partnership also advances the teaching, research, and service mission of the University and the civic development of our undergraduate and graduate students.

Rutgers Future Scholars

The Rutgers Future Scholars Program introduces economically disadvantaged, academically promising middle school students from Rutgers’ four host communities—New Brunswick, Piscataway, Newark, and Camden—to the promise and opportunities of a college education.

  • Each year, up to 200 students, who are completing the seventh grade, will be accepted into the program. These young students may become the first in their families to earn a four-year college degree.

    From eighth grade through high school, Future Scholars receive ongoing academic support, enrichment, personal guidance, and mentoring. They learn about new subjects and career paths, and gain the confidence to plan for an exciting and challenging future. They participate in residential experiences on campus in the summers, weekend seminars throughout the school year, and college admissions test preparation. 

    The goal of the program is to help these students stay in school, graduate from high school, and gain admission to Rutgers or another college of their choice.

    To ease the financial burden of higher education, Rutgers guarantees free tuition and fees to all those who successfully complete the pre-college phase of the program, meet admission requirements, and choose to attend the University.

  • Through the generosity of Renee and Sheldon Batterman, Rutgers Future Scholars from Camden will be able to apply for an academic merit scholarship to support their studies here at Rutgers University–Camden. For more information please contact, Dr. Nyeema Watson at ncwatson@camden.rutgers.edu or 856-225-6738.