California middle school students connecting with UMaine through college-readiness program
Black Bear pride is in full force at a middle school in Los Angeles, California, where a classroom of 23 students is focusing on the University of Maine to learn about college, what it takes to get there and how to succeed.
The students in UMaine alumna Caitlin Rafferty’s sixth-grade advisory group chose the university as the college they are most interested in and want to research.
“The students love UMaine and get excited any time we learn more about it or watch sports highlights,” Rafferty says.
Alliance Kory Hunter Middle School is a free, public charter school. It is under the management of the Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, a nonprofit organization that aims to open and operate a network of small, high-performance charter middle and high schools in historically underachieving, low-income, overcrowded communities in Los Angeles.
Rafferty, who graduated from UMaine in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and holds a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from California State University Long Beach, is a founding teacher of the school. She teaches English and history to sixth-graders.
As a college-ready academy, the school’s curriculum includes having weekly discussions about college, using technology to “visit” college campuses, exploring areas of study, introducing other parts of the country and identifying academic strengths needed to be successful in higher education.
“I find it amazing that these young people — who have never traveled outside the state of California — have become so invested in a state and university so far across the country,” Rafferty says.
Sixth-graders in the school select a college they would like to learn about and represent throughout their three years of middle school. They work with the same teacher and advisory group in order to foster strong, long-term relationships and establish consistency. When students reach eighth grade, the goal is to hold a college fair for the students and community to explore college and career readiness.
“As a college-ready school, our focus is to start children thinking about higher education early, as we prepare them academically and socially,” Rafferty says. “The connection to the University of Maine extends my students’ thinking beyond their community, and enables them to consider the range of possibilities for each of their futures.”
Rafferty’s students have developed UMaine cheers, created posters with UMaine logos, designed UMaine T-shirts, and decorated the classroom door to show UMaine pride.
A primary concern for Rafferty’s students is paying for college, she says. Having shared her own family’s experiences with financial aid, work study and scholarships, she hopes the students can hear more on the topic from current UMaine students and financial aid officers.
Rafferty’s students already have Skyped with a graduate assistant and some UMaine tour guides.
As part of the coming school year’s curriculum, Rafferty plans to focus on exploring careers and concentrations of study, and hopes her group will be able to communicate with more UMaine students.