Forum Teaches Students About College Options

A half-dozen black college and California university representatives extolled the virtues of higher learning to about 800 African American students and family members at the Crenshaw Christian Center on Saturday.

Most plugged their own institutions in what has become a lighthearted tradition of boasting about alma maters at the third annual Presidents Forum, which informs students about career and academic opportunities.

But these were no ordinary would-be college students; they were members of a group called College Bound.

For more than a decade, the nonprofit has been preparing mostly African American youths for higher education, with Saturday classes for fourth- to 11th-graders, as well as college forums.

Jessica Edwards, 18, of Walnut High School said College Bound has helped her think about her future for years.

Edwards plans to major in computer science, attend graduate school on the East Coast and open her own technology consulting firm.

Through the program, she took a course in mathematics at Stanford University and studied engineering at Michigan Technical University.

“It’s an excellent program,” she said.

When College Bound founder Johnnie Savoy of Cerritos discovered how difficult it was to enroll her vision-impaired son in college in 1990, she decided to do something about it.

The answer, she said, came to her one Sunday in church.

“We found that many kids wanted to go to college,” Savoy said. “But they didn’t know how to get there.”

The program began with Savoy offering college prep instruction every other Saturday in her living room and volunteering as a college counselor in the evenings. At the time, she worked days for the Long Beach Unified School District.

Now Savoy is the president and chief executive of College Bound, an organization that has helped put about 340 students, mostly African Americans, in college, and continues to provide support after they enroll.

The nonprofit has an annual budget of about $1 million and receives no government funding.

This year, about 430 College Bound students are honing their literary, oral communication, math and test-taking skills at the program’s two 10-month Saturday schools at Loyola Marymount University and Pomona College.

Part of their college preparation also includes determining academic strengths and weaknesses, counseling, getting help with the college application process and participating in summer enrichment programs.

Parents also participate by joining in a reading circle and listening to speakers on topics such as financial planning, conflict resolution and self-confidence.

“That’s what motivated me to go back to school,” said Charlotte Slater, mother of a 1996 College Bound graduate and volunteer since the program began.

Now the health and nutritional worker is slated to receive her bachelor’s degree in health service management from the University of La Verne.

One of College Bound’s first three mothers to receive a college degree, Slater plans to continue studying at the school for a master’s in public administration.

“You’re never too old,” she said. “Just keep focused on your dream.”