A Phoenix Public Library program to help high school seniors apply to and prepare for college has made a more than tenfold increase in the number of students it serves in the past year.

The library’s GRIT program — which stands for Graduating Ready, Independent and Tenacious — switched from a more personalized case management model it had used since the program’s inception in 2020 to a broader model meant to be able to help as many students as possible for the 2025-26 school year.

GRIT went from serving 208 students last school year to having more than 2,700 signed up this school year, Judy Reno, director of the library’s College Depot program that oversees GRIT, told the Library Advisory Board during its Wednesday meeting.

GRIT students post sticky notes on a wall. (Courtesy Phoenix

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