BUENA PARK : After-Hours Tutoring for Minorities

At precisely 2:50 p.m., the bell rings at Buena Park Junior High School, sending excited students scrambling for the bus. But while her classmates hurriedly make plans for the evening and gossip about the day’s events, Kenya Jamison buckles down for another hour of work.

The eighth-grader isn’t staying after school because she is in trouble, but rather because she chooses to. A slender girl with dark-brown eyes and a penchant for volleyball, Jamison wants to go to college.

“I have a 2.86 average,” she explained in between math problems. “I really want to get it up to at least a B.”

To improve their grades, Jamison and 28 other students have volunteered to put in extra hours at school. They are participating in a pilot program sponsored jointly by Fullerton College and local schools that is geared for students who have the potential to go to college but who, for some reason, are not doing well.

“We are dealing with a society that has changed dramatically,” said Richard Ramirez, dean of student support services at Fullerton College. “We are recognizing that we have to do more than stay on campus.”

For these “at-risk” students--many from ethnically diverse backgrounds and low-income families--it is a matter of being pointed in the right direction, he said. Besides lacking economic support, they frequently don’t get course materials that suit their needs. “Often it is a question of not having a curriculum that culturally different folks can identify with,” Ramirez said.

To give students this sense of connection--and keep minority students from dropping out--Ramirez and other school officials decided to bring part of the college experience to them.

Fullerton College has allocated $24,000 to get the special tutoring program off the ground. So far, six junior high and high schools in Buena Park, Fullerton and La Habra have elected to participate.

The money is used to help provide an hour of free tutoring every day. To create a sense of responsibility and a “college-like” atmosphere, the students have the choice to show up or not. Typical high school rules don’t apply, such as the prohibitions against eating and talking with friends.

“We didn’t want it to be like a classroom,” said Debbie Diaz, coordinator of the Learning Center at Buena Park Junior High School, where the tutoring occurs. “The kids don’t have to be here. . . . We tell them that. We are not mandating anything, just providing the service.”

Parents also get involved with group meetings and are taught how to encourage their children to do well in school. Moreover, there are field trips to local colleges.

This month, for example, the students visited Fullerton College. Other stops will include Cal State Fullerton and a private school.

For Jamison and several of the other students, the trip to Fullerton College was the first look at higher education. “At first I thought it was just going to be more school,” Jamison said. “But it looked exciting.”

Some students said they actually like the tutoring they receive. “It is good, because you feel free to ask questions,” said Jeff Cervantes, who would like to attend USC. Cervantes, who wore a “Learning Center” sweat shirt, said that the program’s popularity has spread around campus. “At first other people would call us stupid because we need tutoring,” he said, “but when they found out about it, then they wanted to get in.”

On a typical day, seven to 10 students show up for the tutoring session. The class is led by a student from Fullerton College and peer tutors like Alejandro Vazquez, an eighth-grader with a 3.71 grade-point average. Vazquez, 13, said he enjoys helping his friends. “When I came from Mexico, I didn’t know English,” he said. “People helped me, so I want to help them back.”

The students work on subjects they are having trouble with, and when they finish, they are free to leave. They are also permitted to work in groups or get individual help with the tutors.

Although the program began only recently, Diaz, the program coordinator, said she is astounded by the response, especially since the students must give up free time to do schoolwork. “When we first started, I thought if we got five or six kids it would be great,” she said.

To date, however, as many as 29 have signed up, and more are showing an interest.

“They are coming,” Diaz said. “It is wonderful.”