Students profiled in Dispatch find out how they did on the
state’s high school exit exam
Gilroy – When Saul Cardoza and Maria Garcia finished the March exit exam, the two seniors exited the classroom with quite divergent emotions stowed away.
Cardoza, who goes by “Sal” was sure he’d aced the math section, the only portion of the California High School Exit Exam he needed to pass.
Garcia wasn’t as confident.
English language arts? Sure, she’d probably managed that part. But math? Not her forte.
That all changed when the two Mt. Madonna High School students were both ecstatic after learning that they would never again have to take the CAHSEE. The results from the March test were released last week.
“I was happy,” Garcia said before lunch time at the continuation high school. “I was really nervous about it but I guess I did it.”
And for Cardoza the news also lifted a heavy burden.
“I just knew I passed it this time for sure,” he said. “It was a relief.”
But Janeth Palomera wasn’t happy with the results. The 18-year-old, who already passed the math section, had hoped to graduate this year, but English stood in the way.
And once again she didn’t pass it. Still, her disappointment is tempered with the knowledge that she has more time.
“Not that much,” Palomera said when asked if she was upset. “I still have another opportunity.”
It’s been six years since she immigrated to the U.S. from Jalisco, Mexico but Palomera still has difficulties with the writing and speaking aspects of her second language. She’s enrolling in summer school and will head back to Mt. Madonna in the fall, with only the need to pass the CAHSEE, which she may take again this summer or wait until November.
Janet Lopez, 18, failed to pass both sections and was unavailable for comment. Valerie Zamaripa, 18, took the test for the first time in November and passed both sections.
Seniors graduating this year are the first class required to pass the exam in order to earn a diploma. Legislation to hold an exit exam was passed six years ago but the state placed the requirement on hold when a high number of students failed to pass.
Students who don’t pass won’t graduate or be able to participate in commencement ceremonies.
For Mt. Madonna students, passing the exit exam was a challenge academically and psychologically. Students end up at continuation school for a variety of reasons – some are kicked out of a traditional high school due to disciplinary issues, others because they fell too far behind.
Some, including Lopez and Zamaripa, leave after having babies then take advantage of the day care program and more lenient hours at Mt. Madonna.
Cardoza bounced around in foster homes until finally finding a place he calls home in Gilroy, and transferred to Mt. Madonna after falling behind on credits and failing classes at Gilroy High School. Garcia was kicked out of GHS and attended other continuation schools before heading to Mt. Madonna.
When Cardoza left Gilroy high he was unmotivated and didn’t do his homework or go to class, but now he’s heading up a different track.
The 18-year-old still needs to earn additional credits to graduate and plans to take classes at Gavilan College, finish up at Mt. Madonna in the fall and hopefully earning a diploma by the end of the first semester.
He’s considering a career in a zoology or real estate and he plans to continue playing the guitar.
Garca’s high school career will soon be packed away with all her other memories. She changed her attitude about school and began going to class and trying.
Her work paid off. In June, she will pick up her diploma and then what? She’ll probably head to the Bay Area to attend community college and then eventually a four-year university. Garcia said her mom is going to help cover her living expenses.
“I have so many options that I don’t know what to choose yet,” she said with a smile.
The students took advantage of the CAHSEE intervention classes at Mt. Madonna and both Garcia and Cardoza said the one-on-one tutoring from volunteers was particularly helpful.
Cardoza even mentioned “Kai and Chuck” by name, two of the locals who volunteered their time after reading about the students’ struggles.
Horejs was happy to hear that some of the students he’d tutored in math passed but the former engineer won’t take any of the credit.
“It wasn’t me,” he said. “It was them. They had to want to do it.”
Horejs got to know the students by name and by life story. He noted that many of the students said they’d missed out on school for various reasons.
During the two months he spent at Mt. Madonna he noticed a serious attitude adjustment.
When he first began tutoring, maybe one student would show up in fifth period, two in sixth. Later, that number increased to at least 10.
“It was really, really amazing to see these students we had a chance to work with, how much they grew in the eight weeks before the test,” he said. “You could tell once they realized that they had to do it and they made up their mind that they wanted to do it. It was like somebody turned the switch on in their brains.”
