Students get boost for college
|
 High schoolers in a UGA program sing "Las Mananitas," a Mexican birthday song, to Veronica Moreno, 17. The exposure to college life increases chances for success, backers say. |
Rebecca McCarthy, Staff
July 3, 2002
Atlanta Journal and Constitution
Athens—Teachers are hoping that a summer academic program will help 40 Clarke County high schoolers improve their language and study skills and give them a boost into college after graduation.
Housed in University of Georgia facilities, the Step-to-College program lets the students, most native Spanish speakers, experience the resources of a college campus while earning high school credit. The Clarke County School District provides transportation, books and supplies, while UGA covers salaries for the teachers, teaching assistants and support staff with a $27,600 grant.
The money comes from the Regents' Latino Pilot Project, created in June 2001 to deal with challenges facing Hispanic students in Georgia's public schools. The project focuses on training ESL teachers and creating outreach programs to help Hispanic students continue their educations after high school.
"The pilot project is helping the state's schools make sure that Hispanic students receive the opportunity to realize their full potential," said Art Dunning, UGA's vice president for public service and outreach, who pushed for its creation.
The UGA program was designed primarily by Jackie Saindon, a member of the Clarke County school board and a teacher in UGA's American Language Program. That's an English-instruction unit for international students.
Saindon modeled the UGA program on the successful Steps-to-College program at Gainesville College, modifying it to include Athens resources such as the State Botanical Garden. There's a similar outreach program in Dalton.
For the Athens program, Clarke County guidance counselors identified each participant as "someone whose language skills are holding them back academically," Saindon said. "They're bright and capable and can benefit from a boost."
The first days of class, teachers divided the students into two groups. Those with basic English work on improving their speaking, writing, reading and study skills. Students with some facility in the language learn in context, tackling social studies, science and math as well as language arts.
Saindon recruited as teaching assistants seven advanced students from the American Language Program. Involving students who've learned English "lets the students know they can do it, too," she said.
When students heard Maria Del Mar Pena talk in English as smoothly as she speaks Spanish, they wanted to know the secret of her language abilities.
"I studied English in my country and then came here to work on verbs and verb tenses, the ugly things," said Pena, 35, a Colombia native. "I told them they won't have this opportunity every day. They just have to study."