Summer program helps 8th-graders start high school right
| Sunday, Jun 27 2010 12:00 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Jun 27 2010 12:00 PM
KHSD SUMMER BRIDGE PROGRAMS
Bakersfield High
Centennial High
East High
Highland High
Independence High
Liberty High
Mira Monte High
North High
Ridgeview High
Shafter High
South High
West High
Source: Kern High School District
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Summer bridge student volunteer Melinda Le breaks into laughter with students Drake Johnson and Alex Topete as teacher Laura Whipple passes by on Friday at Ridgeview High School. The students and volunteers were working together to create posters about a book their class had read.
Joseph Rodriguez and Eric Ontiveros work on a project at the Summer Bridge program at Ridgeview High School on Friday. The lass was putting together posters detailing characters in the book "The Bully" by Paul Langan.
Drake Johnson, volunteer Melinda Le and Alex Topete work together on a poster Friday as part of the Summer Bridge program at Ridgeview High School. Le, who will be a high school senior in the fall, is spending her summer volunteering with the program, which serves at-risk youth.
Juan Mondragon was getting into trouble at Stonecreek Junior High: fights, talking back to authority and just "messing around" at school, he said.
The school identified him as someone who needed a talking to before starting at Ridgeview High School next school year.
It enrolled him in a new summer bridge program at Ridgeview that focuses on dropout prevention, academics and behavior modification.
After a summer there, he said Friday, "It's time to grow up."
Mondragon and more than 30 other "at-risk" incoming freshmen this summer have heard from the district attorney's office, KHSD representatives and community program officials. They've met the principal, learned their way around campus and become buddies with senior classmen.
The goal is to make sure they attend class, stay focused on school and not trouble, and ultimately graduate.
"A lot of youth come into 9th grade thinking they have a year or two to play," said Sean Battle, executive director of the local nonprofit Stop the Violence who visited the students several times this summer. "Their life is just beginning. Every decision counts."
He added: "I think it's important to show the youth we care about them. What Ridgeview is doing is amazing."
The students in the program bounce around each day to various classrooms and teachers, learning core subjects like math, science and English. They also get lessons on controlling aggression and what happens if they ditch class.
At the same time, they're grouped with a handful of school Link Crew members -- upperclassmen who volunteer to show the youngsters the ropes.
Leslie Yacopetti, who will be a senior, said the incomers deserve a fresh start, regardless of what they did in junior high.
"It doesn't matter what happened in the past. This is now," she said. "We want to make sure they come to school, and get involved and make good choices."
Making right choices is the theme shared with students from visitors throughout the community, including Greg Bianchi, a Kern County deputy district attorney who leads anti-truancy efforts.
The consequences of not attending class include going to court, possibly getting fined and losing a driver's license, he told students.
"If students know the results and consequences of not attending class, they'll make the right choices," Bianchi said. "Hopefully seeing the big picture will help guide them on the right track. Anything we can do to reduce truancy is a step in the right direction."
Kenny Seals, KHSD attendance accounting administrator, told them it's important to set goals, stay motivated and finish high school.
Students who graduate from high school make more money in their lifetimes than those who don't, and college grads make even more, he said. At KHSD, the graduation rate in 2009 was 77.4 percent, according to state data.
The Ridgeview program is just one of several summer programs throughout KHSD that try to give students an extra boost. At South High, students focus on algebra, learn about how to get into college and visit universities. At Bakersfield High, dozens of incoming freshmen try to get up to speed in English and math.
At Ridgeview on Friday, the last day of the program, students summarized the book they finished reading called "The Bully," a story about fighting back against bullying. The soon-to-be freshmen picked out quotes from the book, while Link Crew members helped.
"(This class) is going to make a difference," teacher Laura Whipple said.
Chanel Jackson, from Stonecreek, thinks so, too. In junior high, she would talk back to teachers.
And now?
"Teachers are regular people that deserve respect," she said. "Listen to them because they know what they're doing."
"I realized I came here for a reason. I can't lollygag," said Jackson, who wants to join the high school forensics team and one day study law at UC Berkeley.
Link Crew members and the incomers are exchanging cell phone numbers to keep in touch during the school year, Yacopetti said. The students proved to her they're motivated to succeed.
"We really are like a big family now," she said. "I feel like a proud momma."
