[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11644]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       RECOGNIZING THE CHALLENGE PROGRAM AT BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE

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                           HON. BRIAN HIGGINS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 9, 2014

  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the work that Buffalo 
State has done to enhance and facilitate education in Buffalo. They 
have done this through the creation of the Buffalo State Challenge. 
This initiative was first implemented in the fall of 2010 and will now 
usher in its first graduating seniors in 2014.
  This program enlists students in their freshman year from McKinley 
High School of the Buffalo Public Schools and Oracle Charter School, 
and serves them throughout their four years of high school. Buffalo 
State has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to the community 
through its efforts to stem the rising tide of high school drop outs.
  The ``Challenge'' program not only seeks to aid students within the 
community during high school, but aims to set these students up to take 
advantage of their potential through higher education. Students 
participating in this program who graduate with an 85 or higher average 
and have combined SAT scores of 1000 or higher in reading and math are 
awarded a $1,500 scholarship to attend Buffalo State.
  Education is the key to success, and Buffalo State has acknowledged 
its understanding of this concept through the ``Challenge'' program. 
Given the means to succeed, students will succeed and Buffalo State is 
giving students the means to accomplish this. These achievements make 
me proud to honor my alma mater for its involvement in working towards 
making higher education a realistic possibility for so many students.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in acknowledging Buffalo 
State's efforts to help make higher education more accessible to many 
students within the local community and also the outstanding 
accomplishments of the participants of the Buffalo State Challenge. I 
am grateful that there are institutions like Buffalo State working so 
hard to help improve the area that I represent.

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