Increasing Access via Mentoring Program (I AM) Update

The USC I AM (Increasing Access via Mentoring) program continues to work with 10 partner high schools within LAUSD in providing one-on-one mentoring to over 100 high school seniors. Through one-on-one mentoring, volunteer faculty, staff, and students from USC, provide students with critical information and support that lead to successful admission to college.

In December, CHEPA sponsored a holiday reception for I AM mentees and their mentors celebrating the end of the first semester. Students filled out a brief questionnaire assessing the program and provided input for the spring semester's activities

The CHEPA College Counselor Advisory Board (CCAB), which consists of the college counselors from the 10 collaborating high schools, met in March to discuss pertinent issues that affect the students they serve. CCAB is a network of college counselors created to provide feedback and insight to I AM staff about the needs of their students.

This spring, mentors will play a critical role in helping their students make informed decisions about the campus they choose to attend and help them interpret their financial aid awards.

Currently CHEPA is recruiting juniors at their 10 partnership schools to participate for next year, 2009-2010.

Gearing Up for SummerTIME 2009

CHEPA will host its 8th annual SummerTIME program, a month-long intensive writing seminar designed for high school seniors entering a four-year college or university in the fall, and college-bound high achieving juniors, this July. We will enroll 90 collegeaccepted seniors and 30 juniors who will apply to colleges this coming fall term. All participants attend high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), but primarily come from schools in East and South Los Angeles where college going rates are traditionally the lowest in the city.

SummerTIME is coordinated by CHEPA staff and graduate research assistants. The rigorous writing curriculum is co-designed at and delivered by doctoral candidates from the USC Department of English.

SummerTIME 2009 will run from July 1st through July 31st. Students attend daily writing seminars, conferences with writing tutors, and engage in "college knowledge" workshops on issues relating to college enrollment, such as financial aid, extracurricular involvement, and time management.

For more information about the I AM or SummerTIME programs please visit the website at www.usc.edu/dept/chepa or contact Director of Outreach, Victor Garcia at victorg@usc.edu

Pathfinder U: Adventures on Your Course to College Project Update

Beginning in March and continuing through the spring 2009 semester, 16 high school students from two CHEPA partner schools began collaborating with video game designers in USC’s Center for Digital Media Arts Game Lab as part of the initial stages of the Pathfinder U video game project.

Once complete, CHEPA's Pathfinder U video game will challenge high school students to engage with a playful version of college and career advancement, allowing them to envision their own futures. Through role playing technologies, students will develop successful strategies that illuminate potential real world pathways to college. By navigating college and career environments through highly interactive, entertaining, web-enhanced meaningful play, Pathfinder U players will develop clearer understandings about what they need to do in high school to become college ready. As co-designers, the high school students assist video game designers in generating ideas about what high school students think is most critical to them during the college and financial aid application processes.

For more information about the Pathfinder U project at CHEPA, please contact our postdoctoral researcher, Zoe Corwin at zcorwin@usc.edu.