Students in their first semester of the Social Action and Justice Colloquium began a special outreach to share college experience.
MELISSA GIAIMO
News Assistant
Pepperdine’s Social Action and Justice Colloquium (SAAJ) gave 22 inner-city high school students from Los Angeles a taste of college life by hosting them at Pepperdine for an overnight visit Friday night.
The program, known as the Pepperdine-Fulfillment Fund Retreat, was a collaborative effort between freshmen members of the SAAJ class and the Fulfillment Fund. The retreat, the first of its kind at Pepperdine, exposed students to academic and campus life by allowing them to attend Fresh Fest and an improv troupe show.
“The purpose of this retreat was to create a college-going culture,” said Dr. William Franklin, senior director of college access. “[It was] to give a group of students who are promising and really want to go to college the experience … [of] an overnight visit to a four-year university.”
The Fulfillment Fund reaches more than 2,000 underserved students in Los Angeles Unified School District where the graduation rate is only 45 percent, according to the Fulfillment Fund Web site. Many Fulfillment Fund students attend top colleges, including Stanford, Barnard and Wellesley.
Franklin’s lecture to the SAAJ class this fall inspired members of the class to join the Fulfillment Fund in its mission to help Los Angeles’ youth attend college.
Freshmen Lauren Parker and Samantha Blons, a news assistant for the Graphic, took the lead and proposed that their SAAJ class hold a retreat to host Fulfillment Fund students at Pepperdine. Although the Fulfillment Fund regularly takes students to visit colleges, planning difficulties make overnight visits extremely rare.
When Parker and Blons first told Franklin of their idea to host a retreat, “I thought you poor, little naïve freshmen,” Franklin said.
But with the support of SAAJ Professor Lee Anne Carroll and Associate Dean of Housing Stacey Rothsburg, the members of the SAAJ class defied expectations and achieved their dream of hosting Fulfillment Fund students at Pepperdine.
Parker began the retreat with prayer Friday morning asking God “to touch [the students’] lives and encourage them to go to college.” Students were paired with a freshman SAAJ student who was a host for the weekend, taking them to class, accompanying them to events and sharing a dorm room.
To attend the retreat, Fulfillment Fund students wrote an essay to apply. Students wanted to participate in the program for different reasons.
“I’m interested in Pepperdine, and it has great academics,” senior said Araceli Angeles from Manual Arts High School. “It also provides what I want to major in, which is psychology.”
Others came to improve their culture and networking.
“[I came] because it was a fieldtrip and because I wanted to meet new people,” said senior George Juarez from Manual Arts High School.
Fulfillment Fund mentors say the retreat is a one-of-a-kind experience for their students.
“[The retreat provides students] exposure to what college life will be like at a four-year university, specifically private,” said Melissa Bryant program manager at Crenshaw High School.
Students testify to the transforming power the Fulfillment Fund has had on their lives.
“I think if I wasn’t in the Fulfillment Fund, I would be lost,” Angeles said. “I wouldn’t be applying to anything right now.”
As a first-generation college student, Carroll said she recognizes the significance the retreat can have on students.
“I hope that they will be able to see themselves in college and see that they fit in and that they feel more confident about plans to go to college,” Carroll said.
Not only did student visitors fit in during their time at Pepperdine, but they also had the time of their lives.
“It was fun, really eventful,” said junior Daniel Winston from Crenshaw High School. “I liked fact that I got to shadow a college student all weekend, and go to work with him and to his dorm.”
Pepperdine student hosts gained almost as much from the weekend as did their student visitors. The gratitude and motivation the Fulfillment Fund students exhibited inspired Pepperdine students. Hosts say the weekend exceeded their expectations.
“I was very delightfully surprised,” Jared Sissla said.
At the end of the retreat, many Fulfillment Fund and Pepperdine students exchanged contact information with the aim to stay in touch.
“The height of social justice is when you can suspend judgment from what you read about the neighborhood and community where students come from that’s in the media,” Franklin said.
Members of the Fulfillment Fund and Pepperdine hope to make the retreat an annual event.
“We had a great partnership between SAAJ faculty, SAAJ students, Housing and Community Living and the Fulfillment Fund,” Rothberg said. “We hope to encourage a similar event next year.”
11-02-2006
