Home > About CAEOP > President's Message

President's Message

Who are we?

The Connecticut Association of Educational Opportunity Programs (CAEOP) is a statewide volunteer organization committed to promoting post-secondary educational access and retention for populations traditionally under-represented in higher education. We assist middle school, high school, and college students as well as adults returning to school.

Members of the organization are made up of teachers, counselors, and administrators working at all levels of education as well as other professionals who are committed to the principle and promotion of equal educational opportunity through out Connecticut. We form coalitions with organizations and individuals who have an interest in advancing educational opportunity programs.

In addition to our direct assistance to students- academic support, tutoring, educational advising, financial aid counseling, CAEOP members provides information and resources to individuals and organizations interested in promoting equal educational opportunity among leaders in education, practitioners, public officials, the media and others.

We hold our annual conference in the fall of each year. For the year 2006, our conference theme was “Moving Forward: Creating Success in a Changing Environment". It was definitely in line with the issues that are facing the TRIO community today. No one can deny the fact that we are in an ever changing, fast paced, high speed, digitized society. The world is shrinking and new challenges abound--challenges that we never conceived of ten, fifteen or twenty years ago. The world that our students now face is at times overwhelming, especially when higher education is something that is new to their experience. As underrepresented students, they also lack the social capitol and the information that would bring them success. We as a professional community are compelled to find new solutions to assist our students in their quest of a higher education.

Having just celebrated forty years of success of the federal Higher Education Act, and, having survived numerous threats of cuts and elimination, we now face an attack from within on the guiding principles and legislative intent of the programs commissioned by this wonderful legislation. Our new challenges are now of a different sort, demanding a new level of strategic thinking and a new level of courage and hope.

A famous Greek philosopher, Epictetus once stated "Only the educated are free". These famous words remain as true today as when they were written two thousand years ago. But education's tools and topics of discussion have evolved not only since the time of the ancient Greeks, but also in the last forty plus years since the beginning of TRIO. As we all know, education is the cornerstone of our children's future, the hallmark of their place in society. We are living in a changing civilization. We must see that our children have sufficient knowledge of economic, social and political systems to enable them to make informed choices. They need to know the governmental process to enable them to understand the issues that affect their communities, states and nations. They need sufficient self-knowledge and knowledge of their mental and physical wellness; sufficient grounding in the arts to enable each student to appreciate his or her cultural and historical heritage; sufficient levels of academic or vocational skills to enable them to compete favorable with their counterparts in academics and through life. We need to make sure that they are computer literate and have access to computers. Therefore it is vital that we take a look at educational opportunities today and ask ourselves, are our children ready?

Therefore, we must regenerate our commitment to this cause. We here in Connecticut must continue to move forward and strive for perfection and mastery of a system that would provide quality educational opportunity programming for all. It is import that we continue to collaborate and up hold the integrity of our mission. We must continue standing firm with our commitment, and support of equal educational opportunities.

Lillie Squires-Wright, President
CAEOP

Executive Board

President's Message

Purpose and Objectives