The biggest storm in seven years didn’t stop nearly 100 Boston area eighth graders from traveling to campus Feb. 18 for a three-day taste of academia and college life.

They returned knowing much more about how higher education fits into their futures, as well as how to choose, apply and be accepted to college.

In the second year of this annual visit, which was sponsored by the College of Education and Social Services, the number of students from the Citizen Schools Eighth Grade Academy doubled.

They were hosted by more than 100 UVM students, faculty and staff.

Citizen School Eighth Grade Academy is a non-profit after-school program serving students from 26 middle schools.

Participating youth learn academic and leadership skills and make connections that will help them succeed in high school and college and become leaders in their communities.

The group was founded by UVM alumni Eric Schwarz and Ned Rimer.

(See this story for some background on the group and coverage of last year’s visit. )

The visit to UVM is part of the academy’s college sampler, which includes Harvard and MIT.

Organizers expect that the trip will have a lasting effect on their impressionable charges.

“I see a number of these students some day graduating from UVM,” academy director John Werner says.

Campus organizers were equally positive about the potential of the growing partnership. “What do we want from this partnership?

In a few years we want to seem them back on campus as students,” Jill Tarule, dean of the college, says.

The other hope for the partnership is that UVM students preparing to become middle-school teachers will intern in Boston in exchange.

“We work hard to make sure our interns get experience in diverse settings so they can teach anywhere in the United States,” Tarule says.

-Press Release