Think College Now: The College Review, Summer 2013

Think College Now’s Alumni Night 2013

A year closer to their collective goal, a community of college-focused TCN alumni
reunite.
 
Since 2007, Think College Now 5th-graders have been taking the next steps toward our shared goal: college. Now roughly 350 strong, TCN alumni are at middle and high schools across Oakland, and with each passing year their presence at our Annual Alumni Night grows, literally and figuratively (see Gabriel, at right).
 

TCN alumni then and now: Gabriel at his first Alumni Night
as a 6th-grader, and this year as a high school sophomore

Among our oldest alumni, the idea of college is coming into clearer focus the closer they get to high school graduation. “There are so many colleges I’d like to go to,” said Gabriel during Alumni Night. Now a 10th-grader at Oakland School for the Arts, he will begin applying to colleges in the fall of 2014. “I like Santa Cruz, but I’m also thinking of the east coast, maybe Columbia.”

Oakland Tech 11th-grader Astrid (pictured below on the far right in the top row), a member of TCN’s first group of alumni, has UC San Diego on her list. Taking in the scene at Alumni Night, she was inspired to see so many TCN students – former and current – keeping college in their sights. “I can see [the younger students] – my sister is one of them – following the right steps and reaching for their goal, which makes me proud,” said Astrid. “College is our dream, that’s what we’re all fighting for. What I like about the Alumni Program is staying in contact with TCN staff and former students. I can talk with them about what’s going on with me and about planning for the future.”
 
Gabriel, who volunteers in TCN’s after-school program coaching soccer and helping students with homework, reflected on keeping such close ties with his elementary school. “I feel closer than I’ve ever been to TCN. It’s the best place to volunteer – people are family here.”

Some of TCN’s oldest alumni, now in 11th grade, at this year’s Alumni Night

As Principal Jose Ruben Olivares said when addressing the crowd, “For me, this event is so special because we all get to reconnect in this special place you all helped to create.”
 
Events like this are also opportunities for staff to connect former students with college-prep programs such as AIM High and Pre-Collegiate Academy. Several students are now members of College Track, a college-prep and completion program, including Gabriel and Astrid. Astrid says College Track has helped her “see a lot of opportunities out there that I didn’t know of. If you think grades were everything, they’re not: there are so many things you need to go college, and College Track opens our eyes to those.”
 

Founding Principal David Silver, now College Track’s CEO, was also on hand to offer historical perspective. “Every year we’ve gotten a little better,” he told the students. “We won the Title I Academic Achievement, Distinguished School Award, broke 800 on the Academic Performance Index. Today, people hear you went to TCN and they say, ‘That’s a great school.’ It’s great that we’re achieving, but you all made a promise: to get into college. The proof will be in fulfilling our promise, making sure that all of you get into college and end up graduating.”

At the end of the evening, when asked about the enduring impact of Think College Now, Gabriel put it this way: “TCN taught me to challenge myself. I know now that I’m capable of being very smart, and my teachers here made me see that in myself. Teachers here do more than teach, they help you with all sorts of things. Now I’m out there in the world, confident, doing the best I can. It’s good to see how students are doing, see them doing well — both my fellow classmates and the younger kids. I just hope we all have a bright future. To ensure that, we must all pursue our dreams of college.”

Support Think College Now!

Continuing our fundraising momentum is more important now than ever as TCN enters a milestone year. Not only is 2013-14 the beginning of TCN’s second decade as a school, but it’s the year our oldest alumni, now juniors in high school, begin applying for college. Our school community’s college-focused vision will officially be realized when those students begin receiving their acceptance letters!
 
Please consider a tax-deductible donation to support our college-focused efforts.
You can donate online at www.thinkcollegenow.org, or by mail to:
“OSF/TCN,” PO Box 27148, Oakland, CA 94602.

Thank you!

Former TCN students Linda and Xochitl reunite on Alumni Night