No one said the transition from high school to college is easy
or predictable. For under-privileged students entering Gavilan
College this fall, a summer bridge program is here to help.
GILROY – No one said the transition from high school to college is easy or predictable. For under-privileged students entering Gavilan College this fall, a summer bridge program is here to help.
The college offers a pairing of two classes – guidance and communication – geared to help a group of students prepare mentally and academically for college life, while earning five credits.
One of those students, Kim Cayabyab, planned to start classes at Gavilan this fall. The Morgan Hill resident heard about the summer bridge program from a counselor before graduating from Live Oak High School last month and decided she was ready to give college a try.
“I thought I knew what to expect, but the reality hit me when I came,” Cayabyab said.
The guidance class, “Planning college success,” helps with part of that reality: Students learn note-taking skills, memory principles and get information on their individual learning styles – from visual to auditory to tactile. They are introduced to campus resources, learn how to register for classes, plan their schedules, meet with instructors and manage their time wisely.
“It teaches the students everything they need to know as college students, to survive here,” said Mauricio Gonzalez, director of TRIO, a student support service at Gavilan, who oversees the bridge program.
In the communications class, students learn how to effectively communicate in small groups and gain public speaking skills. There are four instructors for the program, partnered in pairs of a guidance instructor and communication instructor. Selected based on department recommendations and their ability to work with new students, Gonzalez said, communications instructor Ellen Waddell counselor and guidance instructor Leticia Palacios work closely together, as do communications instructor Anthony Ongyad and counselor Gary Cribb.
The instructors often meet daily to share lesson plans or discuss students’ progress.
“When they asked me to teach this, it was an immediate yes, because what an opportunity to give a group of students who have that potential and they don’t have the tools to work with it,” said Ellen Waddell, a communications instructor. She partners with TRIO Student Services Counselor Leticia Palacios, who teaches the same 30 students in their guidance class. Both instructors agree that summer bridge students, although just opening their eyes to the college experience, are highly motivated and “a lot of fun.”
“It’s an intensive program with great support,” Palacios said, noting that four units would be considered full-time, and these students take five.
Tutors are available in each class, as well as outside of class and counselors meet regularly with students.
Now Cayabyab, who plans to eventually transfer to Santa Clara University to study psychology, feels she already is adjusting to life at Gavilan.
“I was so used to high school life, it’s made me better prepared,” Cayabyab said. “I have a better feeling toward college.”
About 60 students total are enrolled in the program offered to incoming freshmen – for the first time – by three campus groups helping disadvantaged students: Extended Opportunity Program and Services, TRIO and the California Student Access and Opportunity Program, located at each of the local high schools that feed into Gavilan and responsible for recruiting students.
Together, the three services pay all students’ expenses during the summer, from enrollment fees to textbooks.
Gavilan has had a bridge program in the past, for which 30 students enrolled, but not with this strong partnership, Gonzalez said.
“We worked together, so all three of us have students in that program,” said Margery Regalado-Rodriguez, director of enrollment management. “That community partnership doubled our enrollment, which is great.”
The summer bridge program kicked off with an outdoor education retreat where students climbed trees, completed obstacle courses and engaged in team building activities. The purpose was to get students used to doing things that may be “out of the ordinary” for them, Gonzalez said.
The college hosted a luncheon during the first week of summer classes so parents and students could meet the instructors and guidance counselors and learn about the classes students each would take.
“We bring in the parents to try to educate the family on what to expect from the college experience,” Gonzalez said.
Regalado-Rodriguez said students told their parents what they could do to help their success in college, be it providing a quiet study area or easing their home responsibilities.
“For many of them it’s just a powerful experience, because it’s kind of intimidating to go to a college campus.”
With one foot in high school and one in college, Regalado-Rodriguez said, the students in the summer program get a small-scale feel for college, learning the layout of the campus, getting to know some faculty members and learning about student services.
Students meet for their guidance class four mornings a week, students break for 45 minutes to study or complete assignments.
On Tuesday morning, Delia Jael was spending her “brain break,” as she calls it, in the college library.
“You get 45 minutes to work on papers, follow up on homework, study, check e-mail,” she said. “You can get work done – it goes by fast.”
A resident of Gilroy, D.J. is enrolled in independent study to earn her diploma from Gilroy High School this summer.
It still hasn’t completely hit her that she’s a college student, she said, but she does feel like she’s getting a head start. For one, she discovered she is right-brained, meaning she thinks artistically.
“We have a workbook that gives us tips for studying and explains what being right-brained means,” she said.
At a small school like Gavilan, there’s a difference, noticing and embracing students, Regalado-Rodriguez said.
“And when you have a summer bridge program … it’s a good introduction to college,” she said. “It increases people’s chances of staying. One of the things we know is that the highest dropout rate for college is six weeks.
When students get there they wonder if they want to be there … and people disappear.”
Gonzalez said the retention rate for summer bridge students is about 94 percent.
“We have the time during summer to give them all the attention they need so when they come back in the fall, they feel like they are veteran students,” he said. “It makes a difference, it’s quite obvious to see the first few days of school.”
The program will host a graduation ceremony at the end of this month.
Lori Stuenkel can be reached at 408-847-7158 or [email protected].
