UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The College of Education at Penn State will host the Rising Scholars Program April 3-5 on the University Park campus as part of the Restorative Justice Initiative. It is the second year of the program at Penn State.

The Restorative Justice Initiative (RJI) is a group of Penn State students, faculty, staff and community stakeholders committed to empowering and supporting system-impacted, currently and formerly incarcerated individuals through education and meaningful civic engagement. RJI has three main projects:

1. The Prison Education Program, which offers classes and workshops taught by Penn State instructors inside local prisons and jails.
2. Justice Education Week, a week of events on Penn State's University Park campus meant to further understanding of complex justice-related issues.
3. Rising Scholars, a college pathways program for formerly incarcerated individuals.

Ten formerly incarcerated participants will take part in a three-day college pathways program — sitting in on classes, meeting with professors and receiving one-on-one college and career counseling. Kim Lawless, dean of the College of Education, will speak to the participants on April 5.

“While RJI is currently working to expand access to higher education inside prisons, college remains an unattainable option for many people upon release,” said Efraín Marimón, associate teaching professor of education (curriculum and instruction) and director of RJI. “Rising Scholars is an effort to support formerly incarcerated individuals in pursuing a degree by providing access to a public university environment as well as college application support and academic guidance.”

Participants sit in on a class and visit with faculty mentors in a field of their interest. Depending on their degree of interest and timeline, they meet with undergraduate and/or graduate advisers who develop individualized academic and career plans. They also participate in motivational speaker sessions with formerly incarcerated professionals and students.

“The long-term goal is to develop a statewide community of support that is led by and serves the interests of formerly incarcerated students and professionals,” Marimón said.

There are three requirements to participate: be formerly incarcerated, be over the age of 18, and intend to attend a university in Pennsylvania.

“The vast majority of people who apply to Rising Scholars are either already-working professionals who are looking for further certification, or young people getting started on their college journey,” said Isaiah Zukowski, graduate assistant for RJI and coordinator of the Rising Scholars Program at Penn State.

While there is a limit to the number of people who can participate in the program each year, an effort is made to help as many qualified individuals as possible.

“While we can only fund 10 scholars on campus per year, we work with every person who applies to see how we can help meet their needs,” Marimón said. “We try to consider the complex needs and aspirations of whole people. Before accepting a Rising Scholar, we speak with every applicant to gauge personality, needs and interests, then we collect personal or professional references. We prioritize equitable representation in each cohort. If an applicant isn’t accepted or is unable to attend, we offer one-on-one Zoom meetings with a college adviser and invite them to participate in Rising Scholars advocacy activities.”

While the participants see benefits, the college does as well. Trying to include those who have previously been excluded from educational opportunities — such as those chosen for this program — is a major tenet of the college’s strategic plan to change education by educating for change.

“Higher education programs for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people work to counterbalance the racial, gender and economic inequities in the criminal justice system,” Zukowski said. “Rising Scholars frequently frame education as an inalienable right to which they have been denied access, promoting trauma-informed pedagogies that critique status quo emphases on employment pathways.”

Instead of developing the workforce, Zukowski said Rising Scholars is developing a network of formerly incarcerated advocates who are already doing the work.

“Far away from the deficit frame imposed upon them, Rising Scholars continue to combat mass incarceration on the ground: as substance abuse counselors, reentry coordinators, non-governmental organization (NGO) founders and policy entrepreneurs. Rising Scholars provides pedagogical and leadership support for these already acting leaders and future college students,” he said.

The program also allows faculty an opportunity to think about educational equity in a new way and perhaps advocate for needed changes in education both for currently and formerly incarcerated individuals.

“Rising Scholars challenge education professionals to consider realities that do not seem obvious to those without lived experience, advocating for a transformation of career development paradigms in both prisons and universities,” Zukowski said. “The education paradigm of workforce development mirrors the correctional paradigm to lower recidivism. Federal education policies typically frame the purpose of schooling in starkly economic terms, and the benefits of secondary and postsecondary education in prisons are framed similarly. Yet, recidivism and employment narratives also threaten the longevity of existing and future prison education programs by not focusing on their transformative impact. Rising Scholars remind us that higher education is about far more than the numbers.”