Long Beach College Promise,<\/a> which has, since 2008, provided academically eligible Long Beach Unified School District graduates with guaranteed admission to Cal State Long Beach. Through that program, local graduates who choose to study at Long Beach City College can also take a year\u2019s worth of classes without having to pay tuition.<\/p>\nWhat drove the partnership, Hamdan said, is the united vision for student succes and empowerment of the Hawthorne community between the district and the university.<\/p>\n
\u201cCSUDH serves the same community we do,\u201d Markarian said. \u201cWe both have a vested interest in supporting our kids and community; there\u2019s a real sense of pride and ownership among students you don\u2019t feel (that at) other places.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamdan said that there\u2019s a similar atmosphere at Cal State Dominguez Hills that students will seamlessly transition into.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity is what we have in common,\u201d Hamdan said. \u201c(At HMSA) you\u2019re coming to a special community; when they come to our university, we want them to feel the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dominguez Hills\u2019 commitment to educational equity, he added, makes it the perfect place to prioritize students at the small high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis partnership sends a clear message that the future of students matter,\u201d Hamdan said, \u201cand they know higher education is attainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The partnership, he added, is about more than just easy college admission. It\u2019s not that they wouldn\u2019t be able to get in without the leg up, but it gives them an option to fall back on if other schools at the top of their list fall through \u2014 or they just don\u2019t have the time to apply to several schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not (just) about admitting students, because they can apply and get admitted on their own,\u201d Hamdan said. \u201cThis is about us waiting for them with open arms for them to come to our university, (while) also leading and guiding them with proactive support.\u201d<\/p>\n
HMSA senior Eden Kassa said that even if CSUDH is not a student\u2019s first choice, it\u2019s nice to have as a safety school, especially living locally to avoid dorm costs.<\/p>\n
Many students prefer to go to a four-year university, but get stuck believing that a community college is their only and best choice at higher education. The opportunity for guaranteed admission, Kassa said, can completely change that narrative. She added that some of her peers are excited that they will get in by meeting the A-G college admission requirements, even if their grades over their high school career were not the highest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m first-gen, so my parents were excited,\u201d Kassa said. \u201cFor seniors, there\u2019s a lot of pressure in applying to college; when I heard I can have a first slot with the first major of my choice, that has taken a lot of pressure off.\u201d<\/p>\n
The partnership is important because a lot of kids are struggling financially and can\u2019t afford to go to bigger, four-year institutions on their own, said Kassa, who has attended HSD schools since kindergarten.<\/p>\n
Kassa\u2019s dream school is USC, she said, but it\u2019s expensive right now, and she looks forward to pursuing her goals of becoming a diplomat at CSUDH through the university\u2019s political science and international relations programs.<\/p>\n
During a visit to the HMSA campus last week, Hamdan said, he was overwhelmed with joy and pride to meet students who were excited to attend CSUDH next fall. He also told students and administrators that he wanted to expedite admission for up to 25 seniors who know they want to attend the college next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis open doors for them to have guaranteed admission, allows them to explore options, have confidence and know the path to their future is paved,\u201d Markarian said, \u201cif that\u2019s the way they want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
That pre-laid pavement doesn\u2019t mean CSUDH is the only solid option for these students, he added, but lets them know that any college of a student\u2019s choice can be a reality.<\/p>\n
After the September announcement, Matsumoto said, parents were calling the school to verify the news \u2014 in disbelief about the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a small school with heart,\u201d Matsumoto said, \u201cand our schools have big dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI got to witness first hand when we delievered the news how life changing\u201d it would be for some families, Matsumoto said. \u201cI had parents calling asking, \u2018Is it real?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to get them not just to college, but to a passion-driven career,\u201d she added. \u201cCal State Dominguez Hills says you\u2019ve earned it, we want you and you belong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophia Morris, sophomore English teacher at HMSA, said that for some, the opportunity opens their eyes to the fact that they can actually explore their passions and achieve them. It gives students fuel to work harder in school now, she added, because they know there\u2019s much more beyond the current classroom to look forward to in their academic futures and careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these kids, because they may come from families who haven\u2019t attended college, a lot of them opt for El Camino (College) and other community colleges,\u201d Morris said. \u201cThey maybe have anxiety about their grades and being able to get into a four-year college. Now (that) they know they have an option, they don\u2019t slack because they know they can reach that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students will see that they deserve acceptance without having to go the extra mile, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt offers security,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s not (a matter of), \u2018Am I going to be accepted?\u2019 I think it\u2019ll give them more faith in themselves, thinking, \u2018It\u2019s not a question; I am going to college.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Children in more affluent communities with different life circumstances often have guarantees for their next academic steps, Markarian said, whether through a formal partnership like this one or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur kids,\u201d he said, \u201cmay not always have pathways to fall back on.\u201d<\/p>\n
For some Hawthorne students, Markarian added, immigration enforcement, having to care for younger siblings due to parents\u2019 overwheling work schedules and more add to their workloads, sometimes leaving goals of higher learning on the backburner.<\/p>\n
The guaranteed admission to CSUDH, he said, can help take a load off of their plates.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur kids have risen above those\u201d things, Markarian said. \u201cIt\u2019s an extra weight for our kids to have to carry; now, there\u2019s something guaranteed here.\u201d<\/p>\n
HMSA also has a dual enrollment program with El Camino College for high school students to earn college credits, Matsumoto said, and is exploring a similar program with CSUDH.<\/p>\n
Hawthorne School District board member Eugene Krank said that he envisions an educational ecosystem forming through the partnership, strengthening the contagious culture of academic competiton that he said buzzes at the district\u2019s schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cDominguez Hills is going to be cloned into HSD,\u201d Krank said, \u201cwith all our kids and faculty transitioning there.\u201d<\/p>\n
He sees more programs forming through the partnership that could help district students as young as third grade develop their talents, Krank added, guiding them all the way through HMSA and CSUDH, or wherever they choose to go.<\/p>\n
Krank, who has daughters attending HSD schools, said that one of his girls is already determined to go to HMSA. Having a local university at students\u2019 fingertips, he added, is also a relief for parents with first-generation students who are wary of sending their child too far away for school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe culture and sense of familiarity is important for parents,\u201d Krank said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to go to a place with more like-minded people; not just because it\u2019s local, but the culture is familiar.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jaws dropped and tears rolled down parents\u2019 faces, officials said, after learning that their students who graduate from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2304,7,2305,1815,2307,2306,23,131,133,132,137,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-1532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-cal-state-domiguez-hills","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-children","11":"tag-college","12":"tag-hawthorne","13":"tag-higher-education","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-long-beach","16":"tag-long-beach-headlines","17":"tag-long-beach-news","18":"tag-los-angeles-county","19":"tag-south-bay"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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