Students learn how grants (scholarships), student loans and work/study programs work. We then show them the cost of going to a California State University (about $9000/year) and immediately the air goes out of the room! The students are thinking “I can’t afford this, my family only earns $18,000 a year!” Then we show them an actual offer of financial aid received by one of our Cal State students who had earned a 3.4 high school GPA. When they add up the grant, small student loan and work study… they see that the family had to pay nothing, and our Academy students practically levitate out of their seats. This isn’t a “lightbulb” moment. This is a “Houston, we have liftoff!” moment.

But then we show them the cost of going to a UC ($23,000/year) – and again, shoulders sag, until they see the financial aid package received by another of our students (who had earned a 3.8 high school GPA) that meant his family paid nothing for his UC education! Excitement floods back, reaching still higher levels. And finally a private college at $50,000 per year! Eyes roll. Chuckles. Guffaws in five languages! But then, the financial aid package of another of our college students shows them that with his 4.2 high school GPA and extracurricular activities, he was awarded a full-ride financial package at the third highest ranked liberal arts college in America, plus they gave him $4000 every summer to travel internationally for research in his major. The room explodes! For the first time, every one of these students understands they can afford college and the importance of working hard to achieve high grades in challenging classes. And for the first time in their lives, these young men and women, living lives of financial desperation, truly believe they can go to college.

Teachers, parents, and the Bright Prospect staff can talk to these students till we’re blue in the face, trying to explain the importance of taking challenging high school courses, doing well in them, and getting heavily involved in a significant extracurricular activity. But all that talk seldom really motivates the students we serve… until this workshop, when our Summer Academy students see through their own eyes that what they do in their high school years makes all the difference in which colleges will admit them and provide financial aid.

This powerful workshop involves the students themselves serving as the admissions committee of a liberal arts college, examining the complete application packages of three actual applicants and deciding which of the three to admit, deny and wait-list.

We begin by walking the entire group through the first application package, explaining what it is that college admissions officers look for in the different components of the package. We explain how to extract the necessary information from the application form itself, the high school transcript, SAT scores, the applicant’s personal essay, and the letters of recommendation from teachers and counselors.

Students then meet in teams of five, and evaluate the application packages for the other two other applicants. It’s amazing to hear these young people debate the merits of each applicant. There are no obvious choices. One “committee member” points out that the first applicant’s grades are high, but that he didn’t take any Advanced Placement courses even though their school offered 24 of them. Another counters that the applicant was working 24 hours per week to help support his family. Another points out that the applicant was also a member of the math and science club and was elected its president in his junior year. Light bulbs are flashing behind our students’ eyes as they come to realize the importance of each aspect of each applicant’s high school career. The message is not lost on them! By the end of the workshop, the students fully understand with both their minds and hearts what they need to do in high school to get admitted to a good college, and they are more determined than ever to accomplish that goal. They don’t want to be the ones that are denied or wait-listed!

This session starts with a funny demonstration. Three pairs of volunteers are asked to find a “treasure” hidden someplace in the building. Unknown to each other, they are given different sets of written directions and a two minute time limit. The first team is told, “Exit the back door of the lecture hall. The treasure is in one of the hallways in the building.” They leave and the second team gets the instructions, “Exit the back door of the lecture hall. The treasure will be located near a water fountain.” The third team is told, “Exit the back door of the lecture hall. Turn left. Go up the staircase to the 3rd floor. Turn right. Walk to the second hallway on the left. Look underneath the water fountain.” While they’re gone, the other students are shown the three sets of instructions. There’s a lot of laughter. Needless to say, it’s the third team that returns with the treasure. And when the entire group is asked what lesson was learned, without fail they answer that it’s not just having a goal that’s important, but having a roadmap to achieving that goal.

We then ask students what their academic goal is now. A few call out they want to get good grades in high school. Others say they want to go to college. And others call out they want to graduate from college. We ask the group to consider those answers and tell us which of those goals is the one they really want to achieve… and of course everyone now answers that they want to graduate from college (except for the one wise guy who says that his goal is to eat the bag of candy that the third team brought back).

We then have the kids identify the steps they’ll need to take to achieve their goal of graduating from college. One says “Get admitted to college.” Another says “Seek help when I encounter problems in college.” Another says “Take challenging courses and get good grades in high school. And another says “Commit to serious participation in an extracurricular activity.” We have the students work together to put these into a logical sequence of what they need to do to get from where they are now as rising high school sophomores through to college graduation.

Then, we ask them what obstacles they think might get in their way. One says having the discipline to study. Another says “Not spending so much time on the phone.” Another says “The Internet.” Others say, “Instant messaging.” “Finding a quiet place to study.” “Friends who don’t have the same goal and want to just “hang out.” We then ask each student to write down which of those obstacles they believe they themselves are likely to encounter.

Now we go through the obstacle list and ask the group how they can overcome each of those obstacles. The answers are varied and great. You can see eyes opening as one student hears an answer to a problem that’s clearly been plaguing him. Half a dozen girls nod their heads to another answer. Finally, each student writes down the solutions to the obstacles that he or she has already put on their “Likely to encounter” list.

The result is the outline of a Personal Action Plan, with

• A clear goal – graduating from college
• The steps needed to achieve that goal
• A list of obstacles each student thinks he or she is likely to encounter
• Ideas for overcoming those personal obstacles.

Over the course of the coming year, our Academy students flesh out and refine their plans in periodic workshops, and do periodic self evaluations to see how they’re coming on their plan and what actions they need to take in order to succeed.

The counselors at our high schools are dedicated but highly overburdened. Each one is assigned to over 700 students, and they have been directed to focus on the “at risk” youth in order to reduce the high school drop-out rate (typically over 50% in these schools). As a result, the students who join the Academy, the ones who care about school and who want to succeed, are too often left to their own devices. They receive minimal counseling from their schools about which courses to take, but virtually none regarding which colleges to consider. In this workshop, our staff and college interns meet one-on-one with each student (while the others are playing sports and participating in other organized activities) in order to review their transcript, the classes they will be taking in the coming school year, and plan a trajectory of courses for the following two years of high school. In some cases, this results in a change to their schedule, and we have worked with the high school staff to ensure that such changes can be made, despite the fact that the high schools have already completed the class schedules for most students. We then continue to monitor progress throughout the year, and adjust the multi-year plan if and when needed. The result is a better college preparation, custom-tailored to provide each student with a measured escalation in academic challenge each year.

Most Academy students have never been to an art museum or a symphonic concert. Many seldom travel more than five miles from their homes. For such students, it is paramount for us to provide a wide range of cultural experiences in order to break open their “tunnel vision” view of life, and provide a broader perspective to the possibilities available to them. Such experiences increase the motivation of our students to get a college degree and a good job, so that they will be able to do things in their lives that they never even knew existed.

At the Norton Simon Museum, college students and graduates who are knowledgeable in art and art history lead small groups of our Academy students through six centuries of art, describing both the cultural context in which the pieces were produced, as well as the development of artistic technique over the centuries. Why was medieval art devoted to religious subjects? What changed in the Renaissance? Why were 17th century paintings so dark? What did the symbology of still life vanitas painting convey? How did Rembrandt achieve his remarkable luminous portraits? Why the sugary colors and subject matter of Rococco painting? What triggered the Impressionist movement, and what were those artists conveying through their new technique? What can you see in cubism? And finally, what the heck is contemporary art all about? The students love it, and we know that many have gone back on their own taking their family and friends.

Then it’s on to the Hollywood Bowl for dinner in the hills followed by a Tchaikovsky Fireworks Spectacular under the moon and stars. A perfect ending to a perfect week – a week that many of our students say has been the most important of their lives.