Discover Puente took place on October 31, 2018 and served 43 students from South San Francisco High School and Capuchino High School. The students in attendance were in the Hermanos y Hermanas programs at both schools. Students were able to sit in on American Sign Language I, Intro to Business, Child Development, Intensive Composition & Reading (ENGL 105), College Success (COUN 100), Intro to Psychology, and Contemporary Social Issues (SOCI 105). Additionally, students were able to attend an Undocumented Students Workshop and an engineering simulation through the Fabrication Lab. Students were also able to enjoy Skyloween during lunch and learn more about the various student clubs and organizations that were present on the Quad.
Organized in collaboration with the Puente Learning Community, Discover Puente provided students with an opportunity to engage with culturally similar faculty, staff, and students to create a safe space to learn and ask questions. Feedback received on the post-event evaluation included:
“College classes are different from high school.”
“I learned about how college works.”
“College is not as stressful as I thought.”
“I would be able to understand the classes.”
A tremendous thank you for everyone involved in supporting the success of this event: the Puente Learning Community especially Lucia Lachmayr and Rocio Aguilar-Pedroza, Jackie Flores for speaking with the students, Outreach Ambassadors Cara Loo, Angelica Alvarez, Rex Chow, Yatin Kumar, and the professors who opened their classes for the student visitors: Gerardo Di Pietro, Soledad McCarthy, Nicole Porter, Jarrod Feiner, Doris Garcia, Aricka Buena, Paula Silva, Jennifer Merril, Rika Fabian, Pam Ortiz Cerda, Maryam Khan, and Marco Wehrfritz. Thank you to the ASSC and all student organizations for welcoming the Discover Puente guests to Skyloween. Finally, thank you, as always to the Events and Facilities Team, Media Services (Roger Marcelo), and Eric Imahara for ensuring that our space was welcoming and prepared for our guests.
Discover Puente is a part of the Discover Days initiative. The purpose of Discover Days to host shadow days for underserved high school students to help them better connect to Skyline College and develop a level of comfort with higher education. Discover Days is graciously funded by the President’s Innovation Fund and supported by the President’s Council.
Article and Photo by Lauren Ford