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HANCOCK -- Classes have only just begun for a handful of high school students in the Copper Country, but they’re already being tested.

This summer, 30 teens from Baraga, Houghton and Keweenaw counties will be living in the dorms and attending classes for five weeks at Finlandia University.  It'll be a lot of work, but the students are quick to explain why they don't mind.

"When you're in such a safe environment, it's easier to speak up," says Jaclyn Sliger, who'll be a senior at L’Anse next fall.  "When you're around all your friends all the time, it makes it fun to learn."

The mock college experience is a part of the federally-funded Upward Bound program aimed at preparing low income students, with the potential to be first-generation college students, for higher education. 

Assistant Director Joe Zerbst attended the program when he was a teen and says it's especially important now.

"Everyone knows Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation," says Zerbst.  "Being successful in higher education is one way to help the state get out of this economic turmoil."

The program has been at Finlandia since 1981 and has proven itself with the performance of past students.  About 90 percent of seniors have attended college the fall after their high school graduation.

"It was a way to find people like me," says Joshua Isaac, who'll be a freshman at Finlandia this fall.  "I’ve actually enjoyed it more than any other educational program."

And after spending five weeks on campus, all of the students will be going on a week-long trip to Colorado Springs.

The group will hold a car wash and silent auction fund-raiser for that trip Friday from 1-5 p.m. at the Family Video in Houghton.