The TRIO program at Southeast Missouri State University will host the annual National TRIO Day Celebration with a dinner catered by Tractors of Jackson.

The TRIO program is part of Academic Support Services on campus and is a designed to assist low-income students who are first generation college students or have a disability. The celebration dinner is to congratulate the students on what they have accomplished throughout the year.

Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins, the president at Southeast and other university executives are expected to attend the event. Also invited are some former TRIO students who have gone on to earn masters and doctoral degrees and any students who are currently in TRIO who have submitted an RSVP to Monica Barnes, the director of the McNair Scholars Program, by Feb. 21.

TRIO students are highly encouraged to attend unless they have class at the time of the dinner at 6 p.m. on Feb. 28 in the Show Me Center.

The 130 people who attend are expected to dress professionally.

"It's formal, but a laid-back environment," said Michael Ignacio, a TRIO intake specialist.

Students in the McNair Scholars Program, a subset of Academic Support Services, who have been conducting research will give oral presentations with the help of visual aids, including posters set up in a designated area.

After the presentations, the celebration will begin with Dobbins and other speaking. The current TRIO students will be grouped with alumni in order to network and hear about the success of others.

"We group students based on similar majors and mannerisms," Barnes said.

National TRIO Day has been celebrated throughout the country each year on Feb. 28 since 1968, the year Congress passed a resolution approving the annual celebration.