While many recent high school graduates work summer jobs or hit the beach, 25 incoming freshmen at the University of Toledo chose instead to hit the books.

This summer, UT launched a six-week program that aims to acclimate new students to campus and jump-start their college careers.

First-year students in the Multicultural Emerging Scholars Program live together in a residence hall from late June to early August while they take courses in English composition, cultural anthropology, and service learning. They also brush up on skills at math camp.

Before campus fills up this fall, they’ll have had a chance to earn eight credit hours.

“It’s been great,” said Randolph Thomas, a 17-year-old incoming freshman from Detroit. “Everyone is really cool. I feel accepted, and it’s a nice opportunity for me to be prepared for the fall.”

Program directors want to boost UT’s retention and graduation rates, and said they feel a moral obligation to help students admitted to the university succeed.

“When they graduate from high school in May or June, they are considered minors. They live at home, they have rules, regulations, curfews, chores,” said Anthony Quinn, assistant dean for diversity and inclusion in the College of Natural Science and Mathematics. “And then, somehow, we expect that by August they’ve transcended into these mature adults who make rational, reasonable decisions for their lives.”

He directs the program with Willie McKether, associate dean in the College of Languages, Literature, and Social Sciences, and Barbara Schneider, the college’s senior associate dean.

The program’s genesis goes back years, when leaders took note of data showing students of color had lower graduation rates than other students.

About 22 percent of first-time, full-time students who entered UT in 2008 graduated in four years; 45 percent graduated within six years. While 52 percent of white students who entered UT in 2007 graduated within six years, only 20 percent of black students who started at the same time obtained a degree in six years.

Directors identified multiple obstacles to graduation. Students who were the first in their families to attend college might not have as much support as others. They learned some students weren’t comfortable asking for help, and some thought they would have more time to adjust to college.

The program won support from UT administrators, who came up with university-provided scholarships to cover participants’ tuition, housing, and meals.

Students were admitted to the program partly on their college-entrance test scores and high school grade-point averages.

Alan Paredes, 19, of Columbus, said he didn’t have the test scores to get into Ohio University, his first-choice school. But after speaking to a UT recruiter, he enrolled at Toledo and plans to study communications.

He and other students said they are benefiting from the math camp and other courses.

“I really feel like Dr. McKether’s lectures are preparing me for the lectures I’ll be experiencing next year,” said Kyndra Gaines, 18, of Toledo, who plans to major in biology.

During a recent lecture, the associate professor of anthropology directed his students in a vigorous discussion.

Merging social and natural sciences to improve students’ analytical thinking and self-awareness is among the program’s aims.

Students have already learned that college courses will require more work than high school. Assignments mean reading entire chapters, not just pages.

“This is the real world. This is what college is going to be like,” Mr. McKether said. “You always have something to do.”

The program’s schedule also will carve out time for students to learn their way around campus, make friends, and meet Toledo city councilmen; tour One Government Center, and work on a community service project, said Tiffany Whitman, an adviser and instructor who teaches a course called Learning to Serve.

This fall, the program’s participants will share a residence hall and take a leadership course together. Leaders will continue to meet with students, develop relationships, and check grades to prepare students to succeed as freshmen and upperclassmen.

The hard work starts in the summertime.

“So when they come back in the fall … they’ll be ready,” Mr. McKether said.

Contact Vanessa McCray at: vmccray@theblade.com or 419-724-6065, or on Twitter @vanmccray.

First Published July 13, 2015, 4:00 a.m.