As a parent, have you ever wondered how your child can prepare themselves for college? Are you aware of what your child must do in order to gain acceptance into a university? This is one of the ways that the Fillmore High School UC Summer Academy can assist the students that attend in addition to providing valuable information for the parents. The Fillmore High School UC Summer Academy is a program designed for both parent and student involvement.
Upon entering high school, students have the opportunity to choose one of three pathways that will take them through high school and lead them into the next stage of life. The first pathway, which all parents’ desire, is to graduate from high school along with an acceptance into a four year college or university. The second pathway is to receive a high school diploma and enter a trade school, go straight into the workforce, or enlist in the military. The third and final pathway is to drop out of high school, which is something that all parents fear for their children. Although many other combinations still exist, these tend to be the most common pathways that students can take.
According to the latest Fillmore High School Accountability Report Card, our dropout rate from the 2005-2006 school year was 2.8% which is below the state average of 4%. This would equate to about 30 students from our high school. This does not include students who were expelled, transferred to our continuation school, or Gateway.
The main goal of the Fillmore High School UC Summer Academy (SA) is to encourage all of our students to strive for a higher education. We hold college readiness seminars once a week with an academic service provider from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). The academic service provider, in coordination with the UCSB Early Academic Outreach Program, assists the student in developing a four year academic plan for high school and a ten year academic plan that will take them through college. The students also participate in two college campus tours. This year we went to UCSB and UCLA and the students were able to view two of our closest UC’s. In addition, the students have had the opportunity to participate in several MESA projects provided by UCSB.
The parents have been given the opportunity to be actively involved in the planning process for their child’s education. It is mandatory that they attend meetings in the evening so that they become familiar with high school requirements, the A-G college requirements, financial aid and information on scholarships.
The Fillmore High School UC Summer Academy is in its third year of preparing a group of students through the high-school-to-college pathway. Fillmore’s UC Summer Academy is the direct result of collaboration between the Fillmore Unified School District and the University of California, Office of the President and UCSB’s Early Academic Outreach Program and MESA. In the 2005-2006 school year, the administration and counselors at Fillmore High worked with a UCSB administrative team to develop a program aimed at their shared goal of increasing the number of college-going students from FHS. We have continued on with this endeavor and each year we continue to add to it making it a wonderful experience. We continue to allow the UC Summer Academy “graduates” to return in their sophomore year and take speech and additional math and science classes.
The UC Summer Academy freshmen are preparing for success in building academic plans that will increase their computer skills and literacy in addition to taking them through their required coursework. Through their participation in the Science and Math courses, they are learning problem-solving skills, practicing teamwork, and developing leadership skills that will take them through high school and into their chosen professions. Students learn to work in teams as they complete the tasks set forth by the UC Summer Academy Instructors. This will provide them with an introduction into the Fillmore High School work ethic and they will have gained 10 high school credits.
We hosted an “End of the Program Celebration” dinner on Thursday, July 10, 2008 at the Fillmore Middle School Pavilion. The students received Certificates of Completion for their successful conclusion of the UC Summer Academy by the SA Director, and UCSB Program Directors from MESA and EAOP.
The Fillmore High School UC Summer Academy would like to thank Chuy from El Pescador and The Romero Family from Carniceria La Plaza for their generous donations towards the dinner celebration.
For more information about the Fillmore Summer Academy, contact Jose Luis Lomeli at (805) 524-6100, or jlomeli@fillmore.k12.ca.us or Olivia Palacio, College Site Coordinator, EAOP, UCSB at palacio-o@sa.ucsb.edu