Going to college was not a priority for Monica Martin. Coming from a family and a neighborhood where no one went to college, she thought "they were living just fine" without it. Martin did in fact see the advantages of higher education but assumed she couldn't make the grade. Through her involvement with the Lutheran Church across the street from her Houston home, she found out about St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.

Martin was apprehensive when she got off the Greyhound bus 1,100 miles from home. But after she attended a special summer program in which she took a biology course alongside students with backgrounds similar to hers, college looked less daunting.

She attributes her success to this close community of kindred spirits. "Everyone becomes such close friends it makes them seem like family. So then when you're here, you're never really alone," says Martin, a sophomore who now is active in several student organizations, is a calculus grader, and plans to major in math.

For student Vue Thao, a member of the Hmong people, the St. Olaf program is literally a family affair. He and his three sisters—"the first generation to go to college," he points out—have all gone through the program. Oldest sister Blia graduated from St. Olaf in 2004 and is now a registered nurse. Another sister, Kia, graduated in spring 2006 and works in a high school outreach program, and sister Ying is a junior biology major at the college. Vue, a freshman, has yet to declare his major.

—J.R.