| BARRIOZONA |
| Bilingual Community Expression Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues |
| Let High Schoolers Dream Too |
| By Yvonne Watterson |
The urge to support American-raised young people who want to realize their American
dream of a college education is heartening to an immigrant like me. The American Dream
Fund has also stepped up for this particular group of students who need their advocacy and
their financial support. While the Dream Fund allows us to do something that honors
honorable adult children of immigrants, it unfortunately does not address fulfilling the
dreams of many other kids. I’d like to tell you about some of them.
They are minors, and under federal law are entitled to a free public education regardless of
status. In Arizona, they are also entitled to pursue their K-12 education at a public school
of choice, a charter school like mine. My charter is the only Early College High School in our
city. As such, our mission is to support students to earn both a high school diploma and an
AA degree upon graduation.
Typically, our kids come to us from parents who didn’t go to college, parents who perhaps
don’t speak English, and always from parents who want only the best for their children.
They also come to us with an unwavering commitment to ‘do college early,’ which will
eliminate some of the financial obstacles they would otherwise encounter as ‘first
generation’ students. As Principal, I use my state funding to pay for college tuition and
textbooks to ensure that ALL 240 students can participate fully in this innovative mission-
driven charter high school.
Until Prop 300 passed, that’s what they did. All dreams were within reach. Students were
safe, successful, and in school. Our data tells the story: since its redesign in 2003, our
school’s attendance rate has improved from 50% to 94%, and our drop out rate has
decreased from 50% to 1.4%, our Math AIMs scores reveal that in 2003 NO students met
the standard in math; now over 74% meet the standards. Last May, our 40 Seniors
graduated with a combined 802 college credits. Clearly, dreams have come true here.
The successes belong to the resilient students, documented and undocumented, whose
commitment to academic excellence has been inspiring. But the stakes are much higher for
my undocumented students, because their academic success has been hindered by an
action over which they had no control – brought to this country as infants, they now face an
uncertain future not just in this state, but in the very classrooms they attend every day as
high school children.
They are no longer entitled to the same opportunity as their American born peers, those
with whom they were promoted from elementary school, those with whom they played and
prayed, those with whom they saluted the American flag every day in grade school. Until
Prop 300 passed, I used my state funding to pay for the college coursework that is integral
to our unique high school program. When it passed, my undocumented children, innocent
victims, were denied access to that free public high school education afforded to everyone
else.
But, our program is still intact because of the kindness of strangers, strangers I’ve come to
rely on ever since the menacing measure passed. And students have been able to continue
their high school program and to dream again. Students like Jose, who came here to our
country as a toddler, and took his first tentative steps on Arizona soil, and saved every
certificate he ever earned including the one he received for good citizenship when he was
1o. Students like Noemi, who finished our high school program this year as a bilingual
Nursing Assistant with 56 college credits (had it not been for Prop 300, she would have had
an AA degree). I find it un-American that supporters of Prop 300 would not be interested in
welcoming Noemi who wants only to contribute positively to the only community she’s ever
known.
Recently, a BBC PRI broadcast featured our school, and a kind immigrant couple in Ohio
responded immediately with a $10,000 endowment in honor of Bob Jones, Former
Superintendent of the Balsz District. Ironically, Bob had spoken out on that program about
the fear in which these children live. Ironically, Bob died the day it aired, but we have an
opportunity now to remember his work to honor these kids and their dreams and to
challenge the dehumanizing stereotypes often used to label them. I also heard from the
great grandson of Hugh Hunter Creighton. Hugh had been an ‘undocumented’ immigrant
himself back in the 1870’s. What would he of what’s happening to undocumented high
school kids at the intersection of 40th Street and Washington, not too far away from
Creighton schools, which were his gift to the city of Phoenix?
I am deeply grateful for the kindness of strangers; for the letters of support from all over
the country, and for the financial contributions, most of which range from $25 - $100. I
realize it’s a temporary solution, but given the vitriol that characterizes the immigration
debate here, I doubt that Prop 300 is a temporary measure. I need to find new and
sustainable ways of funding an early college high school education for my students. A
contribution to the Dr. Robert Jones Memorial Fund will keep my kids’ dreams alive. They
have already proven they can do college early; with grace and gratitude they have risen to
the occasion, but they can only do so if private donations keep coming in. To make a
donation, make checks payable to the Dr. Robert Jones Memorial Fund and mail to Alma
Padilla, Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation, 2411 W. 14th Street, Tempe AZ 85281
dream of a college education is heartening to an immigrant like me. The American Dream
Fund has also stepped up for this particular group of students who need their advocacy and
their financial support. While the Dream Fund allows us to do something that honors
honorable adult children of immigrants, it unfortunately does not address fulfilling the
dreams of many other kids. I’d like to tell you about some of them.
They are minors, and under federal law are entitled to a free public education regardless of
status. In Arizona, they are also entitled to pursue their K-12 education at a public school
of choice, a charter school like mine. My charter is the only Early College High School in our
city. As such, our mission is to support students to earn both a high school diploma and an
AA degree upon graduation.
Typically, our kids come to us from parents who didn’t go to college, parents who perhaps
don’t speak English, and always from parents who want only the best for their children.
They also come to us with an unwavering commitment to ‘do college early,’ which will
eliminate some of the financial obstacles they would otherwise encounter as ‘first
generation’ students. As Principal, I use my state funding to pay for college tuition and
textbooks to ensure that ALL 240 students can participate fully in this innovative mission-
driven charter high school.
Until Prop 300 passed, that’s what they did. All dreams were within reach. Students were
safe, successful, and in school. Our data tells the story: since its redesign in 2003, our
school’s attendance rate has improved from 50% to 94%, and our drop out rate has
decreased from 50% to 1.4%, our Math AIMs scores reveal that in 2003 NO students met
the standard in math; now over 74% meet the standards. Last May, our 40 Seniors
graduated with a combined 802 college credits. Clearly, dreams have come true here.
The successes belong to the resilient students, documented and undocumented, whose
commitment to academic excellence has been inspiring. But the stakes are much higher for
my undocumented students, because their academic success has been hindered by an
action over which they had no control – brought to this country as infants, they now face an
uncertain future not just in this state, but in the very classrooms they attend every day as
high school children.
They are no longer entitled to the same opportunity as their American born peers, those
with whom they were promoted from elementary school, those with whom they played and
prayed, those with whom they saluted the American flag every day in grade school. Until
Prop 300 passed, I used my state funding to pay for the college coursework that is integral
to our unique high school program. When it passed, my undocumented children, innocent
victims, were denied access to that free public high school education afforded to everyone
else.
But, our program is still intact because of the kindness of strangers, strangers I’ve come to
rely on ever since the menacing measure passed. And students have been able to continue
their high school program and to dream again. Students like Jose, who came here to our
country as a toddler, and took his first tentative steps on Arizona soil, and saved every
certificate he ever earned including the one he received for good citizenship when he was
1o. Students like Noemi, who finished our high school program this year as a bilingual
Nursing Assistant with 56 college credits (had it not been for Prop 300, she would have had
an AA degree). I find it un-American that supporters of Prop 300 would not be interested in
welcoming Noemi who wants only to contribute positively to the only community she’s ever
known.
Recently, a BBC PRI broadcast featured our school, and a kind immigrant couple in Ohio
responded immediately with a $10,000 endowment in honor of Bob Jones, Former
Superintendent of the Balsz District. Ironically, Bob had spoken out on that program about
the fear in which these children live. Ironically, Bob died the day it aired, but we have an
opportunity now to remember his work to honor these kids and their dreams and to
challenge the dehumanizing stereotypes often used to label them. I also heard from the
great grandson of Hugh Hunter Creighton. Hugh had been an ‘undocumented’ immigrant
himself back in the 1870’s. What would he of what’s happening to undocumented high
school kids at the intersection of 40th Street and Washington, not too far away from
Creighton schools, which were his gift to the city of Phoenix?
I am deeply grateful for the kindness of strangers; for the letters of support from all over
the country, and for the financial contributions, most of which range from $25 - $100. I
realize it’s a temporary solution, but given the vitriol that characterizes the immigration
debate here, I doubt that Prop 300 is a temporary measure. I need to find new and
sustainable ways of funding an early college high school education for my students. A
contribution to the Dr. Robert Jones Memorial Fund will keep my kids’ dreams alive. They
have already proven they can do college early; with grace and gratitude they have risen to
the occasion, but they can only do so if private donations keep coming in. To make a
donation, make checks payable to the Dr. Robert Jones Memorial Fund and mail to Alma
Padilla, Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation, 2411 W. 14th Street, Tempe AZ 85281
| Yvonne Watterson is beginning her sixth year of GateWay Eearly College High School in Phoenix. She is the 2008 City of Phoenix MLK Living the Dream Award and also received the Moral Courage Award form the NAU Martin Springer Institute and the AZ Hispanic School Administrator’s Association Courageous Principal award . |
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