June 3, 2007

Bound for a better life

Cal State San Marcos program gives teens a chance at college, and a future that many never dreamed of

By Sherry Saavedra
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

SAN MARCOS – For Veronica Herrera, college seemed as attainable as a trip to the moon.

Veronica lives in a one-bedroom Oceanside apartment with three siblings and her single mother, a Mexican immigrant who only completed sixth grade and got pregnant at 17. Veronica and her brother sleep in bunk beds in the living room.

Her mother earns about $14,000 annually at her job as a mess hall attendant at Camp Pendleton. Each day Veronica leaves Oceanside High School about 2:30 p.m. and spends the next five hours caring for her 1-and 3-year-old siblings until her mother gets home from work.

College? Barely on Veronica's radar.

Then she found Upward Bound at California State University San Marcos, a program that helps make higher education a reality for youngsters who come mostly from homes where the parents earn very little or have never been to college.

“When I got into Upward Bound, a four-year college suddenly didn't seem like an impossible dream,” Veronica said. “They started talking to us about financial aid, and they made it seem like it was common to go to college, like it wasn't such a huge thing.”

For the second consecutive year, all of the graduating seniors who have been in the Upward Bound program in San Marcos will attend college. Thirteen out of 15 will go to four-year universities.

Veronica was admitted into Upward Bound the summer before her junior year, and a very different future from the one she had envisioned suddenly was laid out for her. She will attend California State University Fullerton in the fall with the help of financial aid and a few scholarships, including a $5,000 award from the city of Oceanside.

Upward Bound, a national program that offers intensive mentoring, aims to help high school students not only get into college, but succeed there.

The Upward Bound program at Cal State San Marcos serves 57 students in ninth through 12th grades from Oceanside, El Camino, Orange Glen and Escondido high schools.

From 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. two Saturdays a month, the students are on the San Marcos campus for math and English literature instruction, SAT preparation, study skills classes, career guidance and navigation through the college application process. This academic year, there were also field trips to Los Angeles to the Museum of Tolerance and the Pantages theater for a performance of “The Lion King.”

Through the Upward Bound program students tour colleges in California, Arizona and Washington, D.C. They attend a summer residential program, where they live on campus for five weeks, attend classes in English, math, science, foreign language and computers, and gain leadership skills.

Upward Bound supports students in many other ways.

Consider Veronica's experience.

“One time I had a meeting at Cal State Fullerton and my mom couldn't go, and my Upward Bound (advisers) drove me all the way to get me to my meeting on time,” Veronica said. “They also planned a personal tour for me and my mom and went with us to the school. They took us to meet the financial aid people and others who they thought could help me. Sometimes I wouldn't know what to ask, and they would step in and say, 'She needs to know about this and that.'”

Upward Bound staff told Veronica what paperwork to file, when to file it and where. When they couldn't answer her questions, they would research the information. And when Cal State Fullerton employees didn't return her phone calls, they would intervene on her behalf.

“That's why we're here, to help them get through that maze,” said Marsha Gable, associate director of outreach programs in the Office of Admissions and Recruitment at Cal State San Marcos.

Jose Aguillon first joined Upward Bound the summer before his freshman year at El Camino High School in Oceanside.

“I guess my mom went to one of their meetings at the middle school, and one night she comes up and is like, 'You're leaving in two weeks for Cal State San Marcos,'” Jose said. “And I'm like, 'What?' I was scared.”

Jose had never been away from home. He was shy. And with mediocre grades, he was unsure about college.

He'd had humble beginnings. Jose's parents, Mexican immigrants, had earned minimum wage for most of his life. His father had completed only high school and his mother hadn't finished middle school. His parents saved their earnings to move from a two-bedroom apartment with three other families in a bad neighborhood to a house they bought.

Jose took to Upward Bound that first summer. It was educational and fun. He met people who would spend the next four years determined to see him in college.

His grades improved dramatically. Today, Jose is a high school senior whose schedule is packed with Advanced Placement courses, which provide more depth and cover more ground than typical high school classes.

Jose will be the first in his immediate and extended family to go to college. He will attend California State University Los Angeles with a close friend he met in Upward Bound.

“My dad really wanted me to go to college, but never thought I'd be the first in the family to go,” Jose said. “I have two younger sisters, and he wants me to be like a role model.”

Jose attributes much of his success to the tutoring he received in the Cal State San Marcos program. During the school year, Upward Bound provides tutoring two days a week after school at each participating high school and two days a week at the Upward Bound office at the university. The staff includes an associate director, academic adviser, nine tutor-mentors and various academic instructors.

When Veronica entered the program, she was a good student who enrolled in regular classes. Now, her schedule also is filled with AP courses.

The challenges students face are not only academic.

Lia Pele, the program's associate director, said one student has resisted the gang lifestyle that lured many of his friends.

“He won't go to tutoring at his high school, because he doesn't want his so-called friends to see that he's into school,” Pele said.

So, Upward Bound persuaded him to attend the tutoring sessions offered at the university, where there is one-on-one help.

“If (a) student is in here and needs help and has a test the next day, we'll go above and beyond to help them with that,” academic adviser Adia Bess said.

Upward Bound is administered by the U.S. Department of Education. It began in 1964 and now has 775 programs nationwide, mostly at higher education institutions, including San Diego State University. It has an annual budget of $257 million. Cal State San Marcos just received a $1.2 million, four-year grant to continue its program, which was instituted at the university in 1991.

The outgoing seniors in the Cal State San Marcos program will have a graduation ceremony Thursday.
Jose will study architecture, engineering or marketing in college. Veronica plans to major in English and wants to become a high school teacher.

Many of the graduates still face hurdles.

Veronica may have to work two part-time jobs to help finance college. She worries how her mother will manage without her.

“But so many people have spent so much time investing in me,” she said. “When I realize they see something in me that they believe in, I know I need to prove to everybody that their investment was good.

“I'm not going to waste it."