GILROY
– What’s the best way to ensure success for a new community
college student who may have struggled through high school or be
the first in the family to pursue higher education?
GILROY – What’s the best way to ensure success for a new community college student who may have struggled through high school or be the first in the family to pursue higher education?
According to the Puente program, it takes a combination of accelerated reading and writing, counseling and mentoring.
At Gavilan College, Puente, which means “bridge” in Spanish, supports students who want to transfer to a four-year college or university and complete a bachelor’s degree, with proven results.
“They do transfer, and they go on amid all kinds of obstacles,” said Celia Marquez, a Puente counselor who teaches a guidance class that is part of the program.
Close to 95 percent of Gavilan Puente students continue past their first semester, said Vice President of Student Services John Baker, which is “a very successful result.”
According to Puente data, nearly half of all students in the program continue on to a four-year school, compared with 34 percent of all students and 25 percent of underrepresented students, like those in Puente.
Open to roughly 30 students each semester, the decades-old program includes a remedial English course fall semester and a grade-level course in the spring, both taught by Instructor Louise Loots. The guidance class, counseling meetings with Marquez and a mentoring component round out the support network. Sharing similar schedules builds a sense of community among the students, who often continue to take classes together even after their Puente year.
During a Puente event Thursday night, dozens of mentors and mentees chatted over snacks in the Gavilan College Student Center.
Sisters Maria and Claudia Murillo said the program has helped them make education a priority.
Claudia’s mentor is Rachel Muñoz, a community service officer with the Gilroy Police Department who said she recently received a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Phoenix. Muñoz said she shares study skills with Claudia and even proofreads some of her class assignments.
“I was very fortunate to have mentors in front of me … so this was my opportunity to be a role model or a ‘helping model’ like someone had been for me,” Muñoz said. “If I hadn’t had a mentor in my life, I would have had a much more difficult time.”
At this, both Claudia and Maria nodded emphatically. They both know how difficult attending Gavilan would be without Puente.
Maria first started taking classes at Gavilan while living 40 miles from campus and working 40 hours a week. Her grades – and peace of mind – suffered.
“When you started, you didn’t know what to do,” Claudia said to her older sister.
Now, Maria has drastically cut back on her work hours and lives closer to Gavilan during the week. She and Claudia joined Puente to help focus on succeeding in their classes so they can transfer to UC Irvine, where they both hope to earn bachelor’s degrees in criminology.
Puente has historically focused on Latino students, but it is open to anyone.
Baker said the individual attention from peers, mentors and two teachers really familiarizes disadvantaged students with the college experience.
“It’s a bridge program, and it allows student to transition from the high school level into higher education, and then it moves them into the next transition at the senior level in the UC system … or wherever they decide to go,” Baker said.
Student Mayra De La Torre, who transferred to Gavilan this semester from Evergreen College, said Puente actually helped her decide that she wants to study business administration at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
“It’s a good way to put you in the right direction,” De La Torre said. “It’s really based on, what you don’t know can hurt you.”
De La Torre’s weekly appointments with mentor Alma Quintana, a counselor at Mt. Madonna High School and Ascencion Solorsano Middle School, have helped her meet application deadlines and build a resume that reflects her strengths.
Quintana said she learned about Puente years ago through her work in schools and has mentored off and on ever since.
“It’s a service to others,” she said. “I’ve made it, and how do we continue building people up?”
The state-funded program is found at 55 of California’s 108 community colleges. Students participate for one year, but Marquez said many stay involved during their second year at Gavilan through an extra-curricular club associated with Puente.
The program receives funding from the state based on how many students pass the second semester English course, English 1A.
“Studies show that if a community college student passes English 1A, they’re more likely to transfer,” Marquez said.
According to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, Puente community college students who graduate from two-year colleges transfer to four-year colleges and universities at significantly greater rates.
A study conducted by Gavilan Researcher Terrence Willett in spring 2002 showed that Puente students performed slightly better in English classes than other students. Also, more Puente students in the lower English course continued on to the next course.
Part of the difference may also be attributed to two factors: Puente students are self-identified and join the program because they intend to transfer, whereas not all of the general student population does.
Besides offering support and individual attention, Puente gets students involved in campus life. They perform community service – Maria and Claudia helped Muñoz during a safety awareness event at San Ysidro Park – meet several times each semester and go on college visits. The students raise funds for all their Puente events.
Jacinto Arias, who teaches fourth grade at El Roble Elementary School, participated in Puente when he attended Gavilan and now mentors first-year student Mario Zaragoza, an aspiring educator. He said Puente showed him the opportunities that were open to all college students.
“I felt more prepared when I transferred to (San Francisco State University),” Arias said. “I felt I really needed to give something back and hopefully encourage Mario to keep studying and to keep going with school, and even if he changes his mind and decides to do something else … as long as he finishes college, I think that’s the goal of Puente.”
