MILWAUKEE _ Every year, 10% to 40% of high school seniors who planned to go to college in the fall never enroll, according to Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research. Students of color and students who would be the first in their families to attend college are disproportionately affected by this so-called “summer melt.”

M³, the education partnership among Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee Area Technical College and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is committed to changing this trend through the new Smart Start initiative.

Media are invited to learn about the launch of Smart Start and strategies to reverse the summer melt by attending the next M³ (pronounced “M-Cubed”) webinar on Thursday, April 28, 2022, from 10-11 a.m.

Register for the webinar at bit.ly/mcubedsmartstart. A recording will be available after the event.

Representatives from UWM, MATC and MPS will talk about Smart Start and other strategies to address the summer melt in a session to be moderated by Tony Atkins, a reporter at WTMJ-TV. Atkins is a graduate of MPS (Vincent High School) and UWM.

Smart Start is launching thanks to funding from Herb Kohl Philanthropies, Kohler Co., and UW Credit Union through the United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County. Smart Start connects MPS high school seniors planning to attend MATC or UWM with coordinated support through the admissions process, summer bridge programming and co-curricular activities during a student’s first semester as a college student.

For more information about M³, a partnership among Milwaukee’s three largest public education institutions, please visit our website at uwm.edu/m-cubed/.