Students Get a 5-Week Taste of College Life

Tonya Lake is taking her first step toward a college degree through an intensive five-week Cal State Fullerton program that prepares students for university life.

“I’m learning so much about what it takes to complete school and achieve your goals,” the 21-year-old Santa Ana resident said.

Lake is one of 150 incoming freshmen in the university’s Summer Bridge Program, which concentrates on improving mathematics, English, study and survival skills.

As an important part of the regimen, students are given lessons on cultural awareness, program officials said. One such lesson was delivered Wednesday evening at a culture fest featuring African music, dance and tales about legends, Mexican folkloric shows, Aztec dancers and a Vietnamese fashion show.

“We’re showing the different aspects of different cultures to give students a taste of all the different people they will meet on campus when they start coming to class in the fall,” said Micki Lane, a coordinator.

She said the program participants, who were chosen from hundreds of applicants and many of whom are minorities, are living in dormitories across from the university at Pacific Christian College. They go home on weekends but spend Mondays through Fridays taking classes and participating in group activities, sports and festivals in the evenings.

“I think the message we’re getting from this,” Lake said, “is that you have to have a strong will, you have to really want a career, and you have to keep an open mind about different cultures, because we all have to live together. We all come from the same seed, basically. We’re just brought up in different traditions.”

Most participants of the free program, which is in its fourth week, are from inner cities and are the first in their families to attend college, Lane said.

Said student Phuong Nguyen, 17, of Westminster: “This is a head start for us.”