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Teens taste college plunge Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Talent Middle School students, from left, Yacenia Mena, Yesenia Martinez, Zulma Nu�ez, Valeria Escovedo and Jessie Machias are applying for the Latino Youth Academy, a weeklong program at Southern Oregon University in August. Organizers hope the pilot project will help combat the dropout rate among Hispanic students. Youth Academy immerses middle-schoolers in SOU By DAMIAN MANN ASHLAND - Southern Oregon University will fling open its doors of higher education to a more diminutive-sized student this summer - middle school children. A pilot project known as the Latino Youth Academy will offer 40 youths a weeklong immersion into university life that educators hope could spark their conversion into scholars. It also will be one of many Jackson County programs designed to promote extended education as a way of combating the high dropout rate among Hispanic students. Schools offer summer programs Jackson County school districts are struggling to maintain summer school programs as they face growing budget cutbacks. As a result, many educators are looking to other sources - especially for Latino students, who have the highest dropout rate in the state. Pam Lucas, coordinator of Jackson Education Service District's migrant education and English as a second language programs, said the ESD is helping sponsor as many programs as it can to help Latino students. Project Listo runs through June to help provide education for the entire family. A new grant has expanded the program to three evenings a week. A CIM (certificate of initial mastery) Cyber Summer School will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. July 23 to August 3 at the ESD's Medford office, at Phoenix High School and at Eagle Point High School. The program includes one hour of bilingual instruction through interactive television and one hour of in-class instruction with bilingual support. Phoenix Elementary School Principal Lynn Calhoun said her school has received funding from the Jackson ESD to help at-risk students. The program will help 20 English-speaking and 20 Spanish-speaking students. Samantha Steele at Eagle Point High School said an extended learning program will begin this week as a result of a 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant. For information on other activities for Latinos, call Lucas at 776-8520 or the Boys and Girls Clubs of Jackson County at 535-8660. "We are trying to nip this huge dropout rate in the bud," said Juanita Ephraim, a teacher at Talent Middle School and co-director of the academy. Schools will be recommending which students could benefit from the program, which features a one-week supervised stay in the dormitories of SOU. "We want to expose these students to a different kind of environment that will give them a passion to stay in school," said Ephraim. She hopes the program continues and expands beyond this year. "Many of these kids need credit retrieval," she said. "They're behind, and if they don't get their act together they will get further behind." Many schools, struggling under budget cuts, don't have enough money to afford a summer education program, so they are relying on grants and other sources to fund programs like the Latino Youth Academy, which will be held Aug. 19-25. Four class periods will be offered each day from 8:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. Students will be living on campus during the week in groups of 10 to 12 of the same gender with a senior Latino counselor. Also known as Academia Latina 2001, the program will be funded this year through a $40,000 grant and will be offered to Jackson County students who have shown leadership qualities and have passed grades six, seven or eight. Students will study a curriculum of humanities, science, mathematics, social studies, performing arts, as well as fun things such as camping, sports and Oregon Shakespeare Festival plays. Educators hope this and other programs this summer will help stanch the high dropout rate among Jackson County Hispanics, a rate that surpasses the state average. At South Medford High School, for instance, 16.9 percent of Hispanics dropped out compared to the state average of 13.3 percent. North Medford's was 13.6 percent. Statewide, the No. 1 reason Hispanics left school was the need to financially support their families. Teachers and educators have encouraged some youths to apply to the program. Eleyza Ruiz, 13, who will be going to Phoenix High School in the fall, said, "I want to go because it will be fun and I'll be learning something." Ruiz, who will be the vice president of her freshman class, is particularly looking forward to camping. "We'll learn how to survive in the wilderness," she said, adding, "It's something I can do rather than stay at home." Zulma Nu�ez, 13, of Talent Middle School, is hoping to get some help with mathematics, a subject she admits is not her strongest. But she also is hoping to take part in some of the more fun activities. "I want to learn the dancing and the sports," she said. Most important, she said, "It's a chance to talk to other people and learn something new." Students will pay only $25 for the program. The remainder of the $500 per-student cost is being made up by sponsors such as the university, the Jackson ESD, the Anna May Foundation and the Meyer Memorial Trust. No minimum grade point average is required to join the program. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.