Area’s ‘feeder’ schools are high achievers
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On a recent tour of a New Hampshire boarding school, eighth-grader Diana Carrillo was surprised at the response when she told people she was from Santa Ana. “Oh, you’re from Villa?” they asked. As in Villa Fundamental Intermediate School, a mostly Latino public school in a working-class Orange County neighborhood.
The unassuming Villa has gained a national reputation for the caliber of students it enrolls in some of the country’s highest-priced, most competitive college-preparatory campuses, including St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire, Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and Cate School in Carpinteria.
Villa, and several other public schools, are what is known in the private school world as feeder schools: campuses with smart, self-confident students who can handle the academic rigors and social pressures of elite private schools. Villa, for example, has sent 96 students to prestigious private campuses around the country in the last nine years.
A peek at the admissions lists of Los Angeles’ top prep schools reveals a broad selection of independent and some public schools from which students have been accepted. But some names keep recurring, like the KIPP Academy of Opportunity, a 4-year-old South Los Angeles charter school for fifth- to eighth-graders that is sending students next fall to such local day schools as Harvard-Westlake’s North Hollywood campus, Chadwick on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and the Archer School for Girls in Brentwood.
The secret to the success of the feeder schools is not only strong academics, but also some savvy educators who have developed relationships with the admissions directors at the private schools. The public school educators know what top-flight private schools are looking for and are adept at finding students with what they consider the appropriate qualities.
Students from schools like KIPP -- which is largely African American -- Villa and Palms Middle Magnet School in West Los Angeles also are a means to diversify private campuses that can be exclusive, geographically isolated and costly -- with tuition at some private boarding schools, for example, topping $45,000 a year.
“We consider ourselves a college-prep middle school, and everything we do is geared to getting students ready for a preparatory high school,” said KIPP founder and co-director Mikelle Willis. “From the moment they walk in the door, they know what year they’re going to start college.”
About 40% of KIPP’s first graduating class of 56 eighth-graders is headed to independent schools, including Marlborough in Hancock Park, Vistamar in El Segundo, Thacher in Ojai, and New Roads in Santa Monica. Another portion has been admitted to such rigorous parochial schools as Loyola in Los Angeles, Verbum Dei in Watts and Mayfield Senior School in Pasadena. Others are going to challenging public charter and magnet high schools.
Aside from a strenuous academic curriculum focused on math and science, seventh- and eighth-graders take a high school prep class, taught by Willis, featuring visits from school recruiters, discussions about school options and help with independent and parochial school entrance exams. The school also assists parents with complicated application and financial aid forms, Willis said.
“Financial aid is definitely a concern, and we’ve learned that we need to be more hands-on with parents because this is new to them,” said Willis at the school in Hyde Park, where wall maps pinpoint the locations of where teachers went to college and slogans such as “Hard Work” and “Respect” dot the hallways.
In Marlena Rucker’s eighth-grade English class, students are studying “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck and learning ninth- and 10th-grade vocabulary.
Asia McCready, 13, was accepted into Archer, St. Mary’s and Vistamar and chose the latter because she was impressed with its drama and artistic programs. KIPP helped her prepare for critical entrance tests, including the Independent School Entrance Exam.
“The thing I got from KIPP was a warm and positive attitude, and if I didn’t have that positivity and self-confidence when applying to these really selective schools, I don’t think I would have made it,” said Asia, who received a scholarship from Vistamar.
To be sure, many independent elementary campuses also are noted for sending students to the most prestigious prep schools. In a way, they have a built-in advantage because these families already are in the private school pipeline.
“Parents are already in that mind-set; they already have that inclination or affinity for this kind of program,” acknowledged Marie Kidd, the assistant head of school at the Chandler School in Pasadena, where all but three of its 51 graduating eighth-graders will enroll in private high schools.
But even Chandler pours resources into ensuring that its kids can compete, said Kidd, adding that “the reality is, it has become a much more competitive market and we’ve had to develop a more formalized program of counseling and meetings with parents and kids.”
Fifty miles away, the same pressures are tackled on the Villa school’s modern campus, where 16 students have been awarded more than $2.5 million in four-year scholarships to attend private prep schools from California to Connecticut next September. Villa and KIPP students have been accepted into national programs such as A Better Chance and, locally, the Independent School Alliance for Minority Affairs, both of which seek to place minority students at top independent schools.
Villa counselor Maria Colmenares coordinates A Better Chance in Santa Ana and has become skilled at finding students as early as the sixth grade who exhibit the learning, motivation and leadership qualities she believes will make them competitive applicants. She has become a mother figure for students in her program and also counsels parents about school options and their involvement in the interview process.
“I have to make sure the students are capable because the competition is going to be fierce,” Colmenares said. “You can’t water down the requirements, because then you’re setting them up for failure.”
Michael Hirschfeld, vice rector for enrollment at St. Paul’s School, said he has come to trust Colmenares’ judgment.
“Maria is really terrific and understands what we’re looking for,” Hirschfeld said. Four Villa students are graduating from St. Paul’s in June and three more are headed to the campus next fall. “The Villa students are very well-prepared academically, and beyond that, they are tremendously committed students, eager to work really hard in a very competitive academic environment. They’ve also really jumped headlong into life at the school and have been impact figures in our community -- real leaders.”
Colmenares’ efforts have won praise from Santa Ana school officials, despite the loss of some top students who otherwise probably would have gone to high schools in the district.
“The schools they go to all over the country will give them the opportunity to enroll in top universities and colleges throughout the U.S.,” said Santa Ana Unified Supt. Jane Russo. “There are just as many talented students who will determine they want to stay here though.”
Diana Carrillo said she was excited about the prospect of moving across the country to experience a new culture, even if the pace might be slower in Concord and the chances of finding good Mexican food limited. Her classmate Mary Ann Linares, 13, who is also going to St. Paul’s, said she was impressed at the casual, welcoming attitude at the school she saw during a tour and believed she would fit in.
“The kids weren’t wearing a lot of brand names, and they weren’t talking about money,” Mary Ann said. “I didn’t know who was rich or not. It wasn’t a snobby feeling.”
Jaquelina Topete, 14, who is going to the Taft School in Waterford, Conn., said she didn’t expect it would be hard to adapt to her new environment.
“There will be 200 other kids in the same position, trying to adjust,” she said.
Her grandmother Marie Topete said she was thrilled with the opportunity afforded Jaquelina.
“She’s going to do well,” Topete said. “I feel excited for her. I wish I had the same opportunity when I was young.”
