05/24/2026
Our department is proud to be home to the University of Montana's 2026 Student Employee of the Year: Andrew Curran! A big thank you to UM Experiential Learning and Career Success for making this well-deserved recognition possible and celebrating Andrew's exceptional contributions to UM TRIO Upward Bound.
Andrew's character is best represented by his remarkable ability to form strong relationships with the first-generation high school students we serve in the Blackfeet Nation and Missoula. Throughout this academic year, he has taken the lead in coordinating weekly afterschool programming at Big Sky, Hellgate, and Sentinel High Schools, as well as a Saturday Academy at UM to help our high schoolers see themselves on campus. While being a full-time student himself, he is eager to show up for our students at every possible opportunity, including orchestra concerts, wrestling meets, choir performances, and graduation ceremonies. Taking to heart our program's focus on occupational exploration, Andrew's employment has inspired him to incorporate youth development and mentorship into his future career.
Andrew has a deep passion for our program because he experienced firsthand that . As an alumnus himself of UM TRIO Upward Bound, he has now participated in a total of 8 Summer Academies as a high school student, a Bridge Scholar, and a Residential Advisor (including AmeriCorps service with the Montana Campus Network for Civic Engagement). We are thrilled he will return once more this summer for Round 9 before graduating from UM. By being part of 9 of our program's 60 years at UM, his legacy of empowering several hundred first-generation high schoolers to believe in a brighter future through education will not be forgotten.