There Goes the Neighborhood

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Author: Kelsey Longmuir

Many institutions of higher learning, Oxy included, are very proud to claim a large number of first- generation college students and racial diversity on their statistic sheets in the college guides. It is community outreach programs like the Neighborhood Partnership Program that prepare high school students to be the next generation of a diverse student body.

The Neighborhood Partnership Program (NPP) was founded during the 1997-98 academic year as a partnership between the Occidental Center for Volunteerism and Community Service and the Hathaway Family Resource Center. The goal was to provide mentoring and tutoring services to students at Luther Burbank Middle School.

In 1999 the program expanded in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) as part of the LAUSD’s GEAR UP Project Higher Learning. In 2002 the program continued to gain momentum and it was determined that NPP would run independently.

There are five different partnerships that make up NPP. The largest is GEAR UP Project Higher Learning, which is designed to help students succeed in middle and high school in order to give them the option to continue to a postsecondary education.

The program is a grant administered by LAUSD, and Oxy is one of its lead college partners. Project Higher Learning runs programs at John Marshall, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, and Eagle Rock Senior High Schools, as well as Eagle Rock Junior High School. All of these schools are located in communities close to Oxy, some even within walking distance.

Project Higher Learning provides mentoring and tutoring services to approximately 4,000 students. Approximately 60 Oxy students work as in-class tutors, and most are placed in core-subject classrooms like math, biology, and English. The goal of Project Higher Learning is to prepare students for the option of higher learning. Many students handicap themselves by not passing a core class early in high school before they become college-conscious, and this is something the tutors can help prevent.

Project Higher Learning was originally run as an after-school tutoring program but the focus has recently shifted to in-class tutoring. Director of NPP Jesus Maldonado ’00 described the problem with after-school programs as a matter of prioritizing. Maldonado said that students have so many other choices after school, from sports to simply being too cool to go to tutoring instead of hanging out with friends, and he felt as though the program wasn’t reaching enough students who really needed help. By catching students while they’re learning, they don’t have to ask for help, and they don’t have to set aside a specific time to get private help, he said.

In addition to in-class services, Project

Higher Learning provides other opportunities to mentor students and allow them access to a real college experience. Shadowing Days bring students from surrounding public schools to Oxy to spend prolonged, one-on-one time with Oxy students. Shadowing Days is a casual experience, and students generally ask the Oxy hosts questions they wouldn’t feel comfortable asking a teacher or a tour guide.

Similarly “A Look At College” is a series of academic, athletic, and leadership workshops run by faculty, administrators and students to get GEAR UP students excited about college. These workshops are designed to give students an interesting look at Oxy and open their eyes to the excellent college right in their backyard.

Leo Magallon ’07, the program coordinator at Lincoln High School, grew up within 20 minutes of Oxy and didn’t hear about Oxy until the end of high school. Magallon thinks this is a common problem at the high schools in the surrounding communities, and thinks that NPP outreach programs are a good way to show students that there is a school with everything they need close to home.

Project Higher Learning’s final contribution is in the form of several mentor training camps and workshops led by Oxy student staff members. “The program trains the student to peer mentor, provides college advice, and encourages them to become leaders in their school,” Maldonado said.

The Eagle Rock Title One Tutoring Program is one of NPP’s older programs and provided the in-class tutoring model for Project Higher Learning. Maldonado seems particularly proud of Title One because the parents of the mentored students pushed for additional funding so that the program could continue. The program now provides in-class mentoring and tutoring services for roughly 600 students at Eagle Rock Senior and Junior High Schools.

NPP’s oldest program is L.A. Bridges, which provides eight tutors to work with students from Luther Burbank Middle School at the Hathaway-Sycamores Family Resource Center in Highland Park. Unlike the Project Higher Learning and Title One, the Oxy students in this program also design extra-curricular activities for the students depending on their interests. Maldonado, who worked as an L.A. Bridges tutor when he was an Oxy student, hopes that the program’s grant will be renewed, as it is going to run out in December.

Mustangs on the Move is the newest program in the NPP family. It is currently in its very first semester. Oxy provides the already established Mustangs on the Move program at John Muir High School (JMHS) in Pasadena with a tutoring program for each of their four academies. This is an after-school program where Oxy tutors work with students of all levels in math, science, social studies, English and foreign languages.

Mustangs on the Move approached NPP to help the school improve its current structure. The school had four consistent years of high fail rates on state standardized testing, and thus needed to be restructured according to LAUSD protocol.

“We want to expand out wherever we can,” Maldonado said on the subject of NPP’s growth. Maldonado said that he sees this program as an opportunity to make real systemic change at the school.

In the upcoming year NPP is looking to expand the number of students, clubs, organizations and faculty that partner with the program. Additionally, NPP is working with Promoting Achievement in Underrepresented Students (PAUS) to recruit over 600 Oxy volunteers to put on 12 Shadowing Days in the 2008-2009 academic year.

NPP is a great way for students to “get out of the Oxy bubble” and “make a lasting impact on the community” Magallon said. Though it is difficult to quantify the exact difference each Oxy student is making in the classroom, those involved find it rewarding.

“Every kid I’ve worked with one-on-one for an extended period of time during class has gotten better grades on their quizzes and notebook checks,” Lucy Vallejo-Anderson (sophomore) said. “It just takes a little effort and time on the tutor’s part to make a big difference for the kids, and to be able to see the change you’re making is really rewarding.”

NPP is always looking for Oxy students to help with the various programs and workshops that they host for GEAR UP students. If you are interested in being an Oxy student-mentor, contact NPP at npp@oxy.edu.

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