New director of 21st century scholars casts 4 initiatives

When Chris Enstrom was a student coordinator  for the 21st Century Scholars Program, he said he witnessed the high dropout rate that plagues high schools throughout the country.

For Enstrom, it was hard to see kids sign up for the 21st Century Scholars Program only to leave it.

With his new position as director of the IU Bloomington 21st Century Scholars Program, Enstrom has the opportunity to try to make sure that doesn’t happen anymore. As the director, Enstrom will follow students’ careers from the time they sign up for the program in either junior high or high school to college graduation.

“It feels great,” Enstrom said. “I feel like my career has led me to this position.”

Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., started the 21st Century Scholars Program when he was governor of Indiana in the early '90s to encourage students to graduate high school and to help families pay for college. Students are eligible for the program based on income, household size and U.S. citizenship. He said students take a pledge when they sign up that they will graduate from an accredited Indiana high school with a C average or better and stay away from alcohol and drugs. The state of Indiana will pay four years’ worth of tuition if students abide by their pledge.

Enstrom hasn’t been on the job long, but he’s already taking the necessary steps to ensure students succeed academically and socially on campus.

“Chris is making the transition effortlessly,” said Patrick Smith, director of the Office of Mentoring Services and Leadership Development. “He’s aware of resources available to students. He’s scheduling meetings with the right people. He’s reaching out to students and inviting them to his office.”

Enstrom is already casting a vision for what he would like to do with the program. He has four initiatives he would like to see implemented in the program under his leadership.

The first initiative would unofficially be named the Scholar Corps. Saying students are his best resources, Enstrom would like to recruit scholars and connect a group of them to volunteer opportunities. He’s already received interest in the idea from 15 to 20 college freshmen.

“It’s important to make them feel connected to the university,” Enstrom said.
With many students having limited to no knowledge of graduate school, Enstrom, as his second initiative, hopes to start a program that would provide students with valuable information about graduate school.

“They don’t always know about graduate school because their parents were first-generation graduates,” Enstrom said.

The third mark of Enstrom’s vision is the creation of workshops for tests such as the MCAT and LSAT. Enstrom said the 21st Century Scholars Program would offer free classes to help students with such tests.

Finally, Enstrom would like to implement a 21st Century Ambassadors service which focuses involvement of all students as his fourth initiative. Although the focus is on freshmen, he said he would like to recruit sophomores, juniors and seniors as ambassadors to help shape the program.

Enstrom’s new address is not a drastic change from his previous one as student coordinator. He simply moved right across the hallway to Room 607, a move that is paying dividends for himself and students.

“The most important thing is finding a job you love, and that’s what I’m doing,” Enstrom said. “I might not cure cancer, but I’ll help out a kid who might cure cancer. I love what I’m doing.”