THE MEANING OF

I.AM COLLEGE TRACK

I.Am College Track is an after school that helps kids with their work and inspires them to go to college; it is what you might think it is. I.Am College Track isn't just a program that helps kids, we're much more than that; we're family and we stick together, help each other and we're here for one mission. To change the minds of all the people who believe that Boyle Heights is a bad community and that Roosevelt sucks, but we want to prove to them that they're wrong. They say that we could never get into a good college because we grew up in Boyle Heights an it being full with gangs an violence, also that Roosevelt being a dropout school that the kids there don't have what it takes, well we do and I.Am College Track wants to change all that. At first, they wanted some that graduated from middle school and heading of to high school, to join the program because they believe that the kids are the main goal to changing Boyle Height and Roosevelt, we are the future. After, they explain what College was and what their main objective was, we wanted to join we weren't force to. We the kids also believe that we can turn Boyle Heights into a better community and Roosevelt into a better school for that everybody to come, that wants to come. Now that we join I.Am College Track our main goal is to make this happen and to inspire other kids to join and wanting to go to college, is an old saying, " At first it'll start of small, until it becomes something greater." This is the truth of I.Am College Track.

TRANSFORM~Drop Out Factory oosevelt High School established in

1922 is home to over 5,000 Rough

Riders. For many years Roosevelt has been

known as “Drop out factory“. This incoming

school year College Track, a new academic

program will join Roosevelt to help transform

this desperate school. How does the name

“Drop out factory” make Roosevelt students

feel? Angry? Sad? Well we have an answer.

We interviewed a Roosevelt Alumni, class of

1999. While attending Roosevelt he noticed

many students quitting school because it was

either to hard or many students had to work to produce money for there

families. He believes that the name is true, but words like that can bother

students approach on graduating school. However it may also motivate

students to graduate and prove the name wrong. I also interviewed an

anonomous collage track student, anonomous stated “Of course this makes me

unhappy but this also inspires me to try to transform it.” Will they or will they not

be able to transform this contriversal school?

R Instructors: Top left hand corner

J Gonzalez, bottom left hand

corner Tanya Chirapuntu, top

Right hand corner Kim Merino

Last bottom hand corner Jorge !

!

Kimberly Ortega

Karley Enriquez

Marlene Vidal

On Friday July 13, the first week of college track, we went on a field trip to Grammy Museum. When we got there it was closed for public and we were able to get in, it was like we had V.I.P passes. Most of us had a great time. We were exploring the music history and music legends it was a great experience. Our next field trip was on Friday July 20, the second week of college track, and this time it was EPIC. It was really cool, fun, and tiring because we went to Topanga Mountain Park and it took an hour to get to the top. It was also really hot, so we had to carry 3 bottles of water, it was an adventure, and to make it interesting when we were heading back to the bus we had a problem, there was a snake in our path and we all had to walk by it. We also had to be really quiet so we do not disturb the snake. The good part was we did not get hurt from the snake; only some got hurt on their way back to the bus. Some students and staff did not go all the way to the top and stayed to play games. Unfortunately on the way back a student injured her ankle, Mr. Legaspi and a college track student helped her up and got there safe. At the end once we got in the bus, we had something to remember that day because it was EPIC!

On a gloomy Friday morning of July 27, 2012, College Track scholars and staff departed for a field trip to UCLA. All students were able to go because everyone turned in their assignments. At UCLA we met three current students at UCLA, Miguel, Gabriel, and Juan, who provided us with a tour of the campus. Once we finished our tour we took a lunch break, and ate turkey mayonnaise sandwiches with milk and fruit punch juice. After eating and resting under a giant tree, we split into eight groups for a scavenger hunt challenge. The scavenger hunt was a fun and exciting experience for everyone. Once the scavenger hunt finished we all headed back to the bus and on our way back to Roosevelt High School.

Voices from College Track

We’ve spoken to some people who are involved in college track to learn more about them as a college track instructor. Questions that were asked:

1. What do you want to see happen with college track?

2. What inspired you to be a college track instructor?

3. What does college track mean to you?

4. How can you transform Boyle heights with college track?

5. If you had the opportunity when you where young to take college track, would you?

6. The title of our magazine is transform, what do you think it has to do with college track?

Tina: 1. “ Want to see college track grow! “ 2. “that I get to boss people around” , and she also said “ once I heard the mission about college track I

wanted to be part of it” 3. “ it means that my work is meaningful and important to the community” 4. “ to change the way how people react when they hear about people being dropouts than people going

to college” 5. “yes, definitely my parents supported me, but since they were immigrants, I had a hard time” 6. “ I guess transform is a verb to describe not only the students life, but the community”

Legaspi:

1. 100% college expectance and wants students to go to all 7 continents by senior year. 2. “ what inspire me that not enough of my students were going to a 4 year college so I felt like I

needed to do more than just teaching” 3. “making dreams of college real and ‘open doors’ ” 4. By creating a class of students who have the skills to change the neighborhood with academics and

fun. 5. Yes, because it gives a network of people to count on and because you can travel and meet new

people and see things. 6. College track is about to change dropout rate. What you think about teachers, change what you think

about college prep. In the 21 century.

Tanya: 1.wants to see students transform there communities by college and wants dropout factory image to disappear

2. used at college track and loves working with kids

3. It means the future and giving something to students that is worth more than money

4.investing in students and letting them pick what they want to do in the future, giving them rather than limiting choices.

5. Yes, expanse horizons

6. Represents what can happen when students believe in them … and the motivation and resources to go to college

Gonzalez: 1. See’s kids who are not college ready, ready for college, tired of seeing students who cant go to

college because they weren’t taught well. 2. “ When I heard about transform Boyle Heights I wanted to be apart of it, “I worked at a school

similarly stereotype as Roosevelt and knows stereotypes are not true. Students at schools are brilliant and lastly my roots are in Boyle heights my grandpa went to Roosevelt and I want to be here.

3. College track to me is an innovated program that can change urban education forever. 4. Encouraging literacy, and critical thinking as a teacher 5. Yes, I didn’t know what was needed to get to college successfully. My parents didn’t go to college

so it was new for me. 6. I think college track is all about transformation, transforming bad data, negative stereotype,

transforming our community, and transforming the future for students.

Kim: 1. “I wanted to see more mother-lovers who are in college track to go to college”. “ I want to see

more of college track in smaller schools”. 2. I really want to teach more students and encourage more students to enter math and science. 3. “It’s kinda like ‘AVID’. We check up on you to go to college 4. “ I think it’s because it will show other students positive things.” “ Like check me out yo.” ! 5. “Ummmm, yea I don’t know if I would of qualified. But yea I would of joined”. 6. “We’re trying to change/transform our community by sending more studnts of color to

college.”!