LEWISTON – In the three years since Lewiston High School started a program to boost the aspirations of boys, it hasn’t been a total success, but some progress has been made, the School Committee was told Monday night.

Two trends signify progress, said Joan Macri, director of the schools aspirations programs.

This year 62 girls and 22 boys took part in the Early College Program, or took college classes while in high school. “That’s not good,” Macri said of only 22 boys.

Next year 63 girls and 40 boys are signed up for Early College classes.

“So we’re getting closer,” Macri said. “We are slowly counteracting the attitude we had with students as freshmen.”

A more telling sign is that three years ago 70 percent of the students who came into her aspirations lab for help with the college search were girls. “I was horrified,” Macri said when she discovered only 30 percent were boys.

Now there are slightly more boys coming in than girls. “The boys are really comfortable going there,” Macri said. “It’s not just girls in there.”

Starting when members of the Class of ’09 were freshmen, Macri and other staffers have spent time letting the boys know the girls were ahead of them academically. More girls make the top 10. More girls dominate extracurricular activities. More girls go to college.

That worries Macri, who fears boys who skip college will be shut out of higher-paying careers. The Shifting Gears program – named because many boys seemed more interested in their cars than their academic careers – was created to pay more attention to boys.

“When I went to classes to drum up interest in Early College I said, ‘Guys, you’ve got to start doing something. The girls are kicking your butt,'” Macri said. “That’s what I would say to them. I was told later that I finally got through. The blunter we are with them the better. That’s one of the reasons next year we have twice as many boys in early college as we did this year.”

More work needs to be done, she said. “We’re still having trouble getting them motivated to do anything about it, but at least they know.”

Recently the “Men of the Class of 2009” were invited to a luncheon at the Green Ladle Culinary Arts building where they heard Colby College speaker Mark Tappan talk about how the media portrays masculinity.

Getting ready for that man banquet, Macri said she thought they should have a barbecue,

“I thought I knew boys. I was told quickly I knew nothing. I was told, ‘No, no. We want pizza, fries and onion rings.'”

Macri also gave a report on the Early College program, which allows juniors and seniors to earn college credit before graduating from high school.

Collectively upperclassmen have earned 357 college credits this year. Senior Tucker Adams, who represents students on the school board, himself earned nine college credits this year.

Participation by the junior class was down, but involvement by next year’s junior class is up, Macri said.

One of the biggest changes in the program this year is that it cost Lewiston taxpayers “next to nothing,” Macri said, because of more support from legislators and state colleges.

The colleges waived tuition. Students have to pay for books and student fees, but this year some book money was covered by a grant the high school received, Macri said.

High schoolers are taking college courses at Central Maine Community College, Bates, the University of Southern Maine Lewiston-Auburn College, and online courses from the University of Maine in Orono. Courses ranged from public speaking to sociology to introduction to medical terminology.

In other business, the committee unanimously approved a field trip by Air Force Junior ROTC students to attend a summer leadership school. The training will be held June 21-25 at the Bog Brook Training Facility in West Bethel.