CSUCI Gives Students a Jump on College

Simi Valley’s Sua triplets--Brandon, Brent and Breanne--have been following each other around since birth.

They have attended the same schools, are on target to graduate next spring from Simi Valley High and plan to start at Cal State Northridge a few months later.

So it should come as no surprise that all three volunteered to give up some of their summer vacation to take part in an intensive four-day program aimed at better preparing Ventura County high school students for college-level work.

Cal State Channel Islands kicked off its second annual summer institute this week, a free academic “boot camp” designed to help incoming seniors sharpen their math and English skills and more easily earn university admission.

“It’s pretty much a given that we’re all going to go to college,” said 16-year-old Brandon Sua, who like his siblings was encouraged by his mother to try out the program at the Camarillo campus of Cal State Northridge. “So why not get as much help as we can getting there?”

Only about 70 of the 123 high school students who signed up were in attendance Monday morning.

The students were first led on a tour of the developing Channel Islands campus. They walked through renovated sections of the former Camarillo State Hospital complex where the university could open in fall 2002 and through still-unimproved areas, such as an old medical wing destined to become the university’s library.

Then they got down to business.

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The students were tested to determine where they need help in English and math. Tutors will work with the youngsters throughout the week to shore up academic weaknesses and prepare them to pass the basic skills exams required to attend a CSU campus.

Help is available throughout the coming school year so the students can brush up on subjects before CSU admission tests are administered. Students can take those tests at any time before their freshman year.

Funded by a $20,000 grant from Pacific Bell, the program was open to incoming seniors from Ventura, Simi Valley, Santa Paula and Fillmore. Cal State Channel Islands decided which high schools to invite into the program, based in large part on areas served by Pacific Bell.

Frank Rust, coordinator of the CSU Readiness Program, said he had hoped for a larger turnout. But he noted that only 60 students participated last year. And he held out hope that more students would show up as the week progressed.

“Students have to realize that to go to college they have to put in extra work,” said Rust, a statistics professor at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

“They’re not just going to be able to go through the motions in high school and get in,” he added. “The ones who understand that are the ones who are here.”

The program is part of a larger campaign to reduce the number of freshmen entering the Cal State University system ill-prepared for college-level math and English and in need of remedial education.

More than half the freshmen who entered the university system in fall 1998 were unprepared for college-level math, and 47% lacked the skills to handle college English courses, despite ranking as the top one-third of California’s high school graduates.

Students who fail to prove basic proficiency in math and English are funneled into remedial programs, forcing a delay in their education.

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The summer program is designed to give incoming seniors a leg up in that process, a goal that sits well with 17-year-old Adriana Perez of Santa Paula High.

“It’s a good opportunity to know the college lifestyle, even if just for a week,” said Perez, who plans to study journalism at USC after she graduates high school. “I think it’s really a good idea, especially since math skills aren’t really the strongest for kids our age.”

Aside from any immediate help the students might receive, Ventura High math teacher and program tutor Pierre Chamaa said the summer institute gets incoming seniors to start thinking about life after high school.

“I think it’s going to make kids realize where they are at and wake them up to the fact that they’ve got to take their senior year seriously enough to get into college,” he said.

That’s what brought 17-year-old Derek Metz to Camarillo. The soon-to-be senior at Buena High in Ventura said his counselor told him that his upcoming schedule lacked enough meaty courses to keep him primed for university-level work.

“She said if I wanted to get into college, it would be a good idea to come,” he said. “I don’t think it can hurt at all.”

For many students, including the Sua triplets, the only thing that hurts is having to spend time in the classroom during a week that could have otherwise been dedicated to sleeping in and lounging on the beach.

But Breanne Sua, the youngest in the bunch by a minute, figures it’s a small sacrifice.

“We’ll have the rest of our lives to do what we want,” she said. “Now’s the time to get the help we need to get into a good college.”