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

ECP 6th-Graders Shine in WOW! Apprenticeship Showcase

ECP 6th-graders performing at the WOW! Apprenticeship Showcase

For the 14 Elmhurst Community Prep (ECP) 6th-graders standing nervously on the stage in ECP’s newly renovated auditorium, December's WOW! Apprenticeship Showcase was their spot-lit moment to share 11 weeks of hard work.

"We practiced a lot for that performance," recalls 6th-grader Gemini. "We had to learn three different African dances, and at the beginning it was really hard but we worked for 11 weeks – we'd even leave class and practice at home." With the support of instructor Julia Chigamba, drummer Orga, and Citizen Schools Teaching Associate Amber Arnold, the kids learned three traditional African dances – Harvest, Warrior, and Welcome – throughout their Citizen Schools after- school apprenticeship. And the semester was about much more than learning the steps: Chigamba taught them the origins of the dances and wove in cultural and historical background.

"The Warrior dance has a lot of jumping," explains Gemini, "and it’s about standing up for your rights. Harvest was about gathering food and being giving to people – we balanced baskets on our heads while dancing. And the Welcome dance was about welcoming all the spirits."

6th-graders Gemini, Eduardo, and JazminPhoto Copyright Hasain Rasheed

"In the Welcome dance we were saying, 'Come and sit' to the spirits," adds 6th- grader Jazmin. "I had a lot of fun in African dance class because we got to learn about a different culture, and Orga taught us some basic Zimbabwean words."

The class, which took place at the East Oakland Youth Development Center, also invited a chance to improvise. "At the end of class, we would get to freestyle," Gemini says. "So we could do some of the dances we already knew. We taught Ms. Julia a new dance from Oakland!"

"We learned from her, and she also learned from us," says 6th-grader Eduardo.
So when the kids stood on stage before an audience of their peers, families, and community members, there was pressure to live up to all they had learned, and to the trust and rapport they had built with their instructors. "When they announced we were going to perform we got scared, thinking, 'What if we mess up?'" explains Eduardo. "We were wondering, 'Are we gonna make it, are we gonna be able to do this?'" remembers Gemini.

SUPPORT ECP!

Building on the momentum of our apprenticeships, we hope to extend our students' experiential learning through several spring field trips – especially college tours. But due to steep state cuts, we must raise outside funds to offer these trips. You can make a tax-deductible donation online at www.elmhurstcommunityprep.org/donate or by mail to: "OSF/ECP," P.O. Box 20238, Oakland, CA 94620. Thank you for your support!

"Dolla Dolla Bills Y'All" - ECP Community Bankers Share New Skills

6th-graders Jose and Ivan with some of their economics books
Photo Copyright Hasain Rasheed

Elmhurst Community Prep's WOW! Apprenticeship Showcase was also an opportunity for students to share more classroom-based learning. New to the Citizen Schools program this year was "Dolla Dolla Bills Y’All," a class about banking in which students set up an ECP Community Bank. On the night of the WOW!, the apprenticeship's 15 students had the chance to share the concept with community members and families.

During their apprenticeship's 11 weeks, with the help of instructors Jeannette Aames and Sarah Pratt (a volunteer) the 6th-graders set up a school bank at which every ECP student has an account and can cash in "DPA Bucks" earned by performing tasks that uphold the school motto of "Dream, Prepare, Achieve." 

In order to track school-wide earning and spending of DPA bucks, the young bankers have mastered a number of functions in Microsoft Excel, where all the account records are kept. They demonstrated all this and more for the community members who visited during the WOW! Showcase. (Other Citizen Schools apprenticeships on display at the Showcase included Google Art, Iron Chef, Let's Go Oakland, Urban Gardening, Girl Talk, LEGO Robotics, and many more!

"At the WOW! we had lots of parents asking us what the bank was all about," recalls 6th-grader Millium, "and we were answering all their questions. It went pretty well!"

ECP Community Bankers at the WOW! Showcase

"Every student had their own role," ex- plains his classmate Ivan, "and we worked really good as a team. [Learning these things now] is good because in high school and college we'll already know how to do them. We'll be able to do it right away. Also, we're learning how to communicate with each other."

6th-grader Jose concurs. "We're just getting more mature. It has helped us know how life is and how it is being an accountant."

During the WOW!, says Millium, "We were treated like adults – like businessmen."

The kids also appreciate that, like Pratt, many Citizen Schools instructors are volunteers. "It feels good to know they are helping students so we can learn more," says Ivan. "They’re doing it so they can teach and have fun – not to get paid."

"They're doing this to help others in the community," agrees Millium.

SUPPORT ECP!

Building on the momentum of our apprenticeships, we hope to extend our students' experiential learning through several spring field trips – especially college tours. But due to steep state cuts, we must raise outside funds to offer these trips. You can make a tax-deductible donation online at www.elmhurstcommunityprep.org/donate or by mail to: "OSF/ECP," P.O. Box 27148, Oakland, CA 94602. Thank you for your support!

A Lot of Helping Hands: Entire CCPA Community Pitching in for College Readiness

Below are longer versions of the two pieces that appear in CCPA's December 2011 Communicator newsletter (downloadable as a PDF here). You can jump to the second story (about our BUILD program) by clicking here.

In her role as Family and College Resource Center (FRC) Director at CCPA, Abby Friedman has toured many schools. She recalls a recent visit to a high school’s college center where she asked about parent involvement in the school’s college-prep work. Her question was met with a blank stare.“I was shocked,” she recalls.“At CCPA, our families are founders of the school and are integrated into everything we do.”

In fact, at CCPA family and college go hand in hand – and room in room. This idea is built right into the name of our dual-purpose center – the Family and College Resource Center – and echoed in the guiding vision posted on the room’s wall: family support services, college access for all, parent leadership. “These are the pillars of what we do,” says Friedman,“and they are all intertwined.”

Family connection to college-going plays out in a range of ways at CCPA. When staff decided to extend the school’s Laney College concurrent enrollment program to 10th- graders, it was family outreach coordinators – including Maria Robles and Deanita Lewis – who set the wheels in motion by calling parents to explain what this opportunity could mean for their 10th-grade children.

Family involvement also strengthened CCPA's connection with the East Bay Consortium's Pre-Collegiate Academy (PCA) mentoring program. "Kids get one chance at the end of 7th grade to enroll in this amazing program," explains Friedman, "but our turnout wasn't where we wanted it to be." After outreach to parents, participation has reached nearly 100 percent among students who qualify for PCA.

While the list of resources in the Center is long – college application help, scholarship support, SAT and ACT workshops, and more – Friedman says it’s sometimes the intangibles that set the Center’s work apart. “It’s often the small, informal conversations you have over time that add up to ultimately make the impact,” she says. “You really start to see the power of building long-term relationships with both students and parents.”

One example involves 12th-grader Antonio, whose Summer Search trip we chronicled in a 2010 Communicator edition. His mother Beatrice, says Friedman, “has been a regular at our meetings and workshops for many years and is one of the founding parents of the school.” Along the way, FRC staff have spoken informally with both Antonio and his mother about the “emotional challenges” of him being away from home -- first in Summer Search  and now, come next fall, off at college. As the November 30 deadline for UC and CSU applications approached last month, Antonio found himself procrastinating. “We were able to sit down with both him and his mom and say, ‘We understand some of the internal struggles you’re going through,’” recalls Friedman.

In the end, Antonio produced a strong personal statement and applied to four CSU and four UC schools.“It was a tough process, but I'm glad I accomplished it," he reflects. "I revised my personal statement several times with the help of different people like Abby and my advisor Laura. Through the years I’ve had so many people helping me – a lot of helping hands. I know that whatever I do next fall, my mom will be proud of me.”

“The FRC has a lot of resources to support parents and help us get involved in the school,” says Sixta Becerra, a long-time parent volunteer in the FRC and elsewhere on campus. “By being involved in the school and the FRC, I have learned how important it is for parents to motivate our kids to go to college. I really appreciate the teachers and Ms. Carozza and Mr. Townsend for creating this school. I'm so happy to be a part of it."

Becerra’s three children are all at CCPA: senior Jorge, 8th-grader Javier, and 6th- grader Jennifer. A testament to the comprehensive nature of the Center, Becerra connects with FRC staff as well as Jorge’s teachers to make sure he is on track as he approaches graduation. She’s also there for other students, a point of pride for her and other parents in the FRC. “Yeah, that’s my mom!” says Jorge. “A lot of students like my mom, the way she is. I’m doing well because of her, because she’s always there for me.”

Like Antonio, Jorge recently applied to college, and he's got an ambitious plan for the future: "I want to go into an RN [resident nurse] program, with a second degree in business management. I want to be an RN because I want to give back to my community, and I would get to take care of the people who are not in good health." 

"To be the first to graduate from this school is pretty cool," reflects Jorge. "We'll be the first to overcome the obstacles, the first to do our senior projects, and we'll be to have accomplished part of the goal in your life." 

“He had some ups and downs academically,” reflects his mother, "but I always had faith in him and knew he could pull through it and graduate. For the first generation of CCPA seniors to be graduating this spring...Just talking about it, I’m getting excited!”

"Reaching that November 30 deadline [for CSU and UC applications] really felt historic," says Friedman. "We've been talking about this – college, college, college --  but until now it was theoretical. Once this first group goes, the impact is only going to extend." 

CCPA 9th-Graders BUILDing Business Skills

When 9th-graders Carlos and Juliana (pictured at left) use the term “SWOT” (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) early in the interview for this Communicator article, it is clear their business savvy belies their young age. When they threw out “COGS” a minute later, this reporter was officially lost. 

As they patiently explained, COGS is “cost of goods sold.” These terms – and more importantly, their use in the real world – are becoming second nature to 9th-graders in CCPA’s BUILD program (www.build.org) a skill-building and college-going effort new on campus this year. The kids recently put the business buzzwords to use in their first big BUILD project: a candy-selling competition against other schools. With a start-up cost of $30, the CCPA team turned a $150 profit and beat out the rest of the schools.  

"Our team had problems communicating in the beginning," reflects Carlos, "but during the candy sale we were able to work together and talk to each other. When you work together, everything’s better."

CCPA students work with a mentor during a BUILD workshop

 "BUILD has taught us we need to sacrifice some things to work as a team,” says Juliana. “We’ve had to learn how to be patient and listen to everyone’s ideas.”


The experience – particularly representing CCPA during the off-campus competitions – has also boosted the kids' school pride. "I really feel more attached to the school," says Carlos. "We're making CCPA proud by winning, and we're letting the community know we're here. People know us now."

A big piece of the four-year program involves mentors from the wider community teaming up with the students to help them create a start-up business. “My team’s idea is to make a service for people who don’t have time to babysit children or clean their houses,” says Juliana. “We’ll also provide tutoring services for their kids.” Subsequent years will see the kids developing these business ideas with their mentors, even earning microloans to get them going.

The 9th-graders understand the value these tools will have down the line. “We’re learning teamwork, which we can use in college,” says Carlos, “and SWOT is a good thing to learn. It’s really helpful to know these different strategies in case we want to start our own business after we finish college."

“They’re really learning how to work hard,” says Sarah Moore, Carlos and Juliana’s Biology teacher and CCPA’s BUILD liaison. "In winning the first competition, they're seeing the value and the payoff. It’s been amazing to see how they’re progressing while also staying on top of their regular classes. This kind of juggling is setting them up well for college and the working world.”

Support CCPA!

The BUILD program has connected CCPA with dedicated mentors from a range of business backgrounds including sales, marketing, social work, and computer engineering. But we need more! As Carlos says, “The more help, the better.” If you are interested in becoming a business mentor for a group of our 9th-graders, please contact Sarah Moore at smgr614@gmail.com.

With roughly $200,000 in budget cuts this year, we also seek financial support. Your tax-deductible contribution can help us keep essential college-prep programs running at a high level. To donate, visit www.coliseumcollegeprep.org/donate.html or send a check to “OSF/CCPA,” P.O. Box 20238, Oakland, CA 94620. Thank you!