By Noe Ortega
East Los Angeles College will assist high school students with free tuition for the first year of any of the nine Los Angeles Community College District colleges with College Promise Day last Wednesday.
LA College Promise is a proposition made by Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2016. The goal is to increase the number of community college graduates and university transfers in the city of Los Angeles.
LA Promise allows students from Los Angeles Unified School District and charter schools who are in route of graduating to have one-year of free tuition to any of the nine colleges in the LACCD.
Schools like Felicita and Gonzalo Mendez High School, John Hope continuation, South Gate Senior High School, South East High School, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Academy of Boyle Heights High School, and many others.
“It’s getting the word out. College promise day lets students know what’s available here, and it’s better for students to know what they’re getting into before they actually get into it,” Joshua Rodriguez, a professor from the English Department said.
Apart from the English department, the event had other clubs and departments. The Student Health center, Child Development Center, Honors Program, Computer Applications & Office Technologies, Learning Center, Language Center, Puente, Mesa and many more clubs also attended.
“I’m surprised at how many students have come up to us and inquire about child development so it’s a good thing. The nice part is that we had ELAC students come up to use and ask us about child care and about other services that we offer,” Marcia Cagigas Director of the Child Development Center said.
President of the Philosophy Club Leonardo Escobar, believes that these events aren’t just to show new and current students about the services that ELAC provides, but also to show that the campus is a safe and highly spirited environment.
“I think the energy we show here is indicative of how much spirit and how much love we have for our campus. It shows to new and continuing students that this is not just a school, but it’s also a home where we’re all safe,” Escobar said.
Escobar said that he wished he was offered the classes at ELAC when he was in high school, but is glad that high school students now can get the opportunity that he didn’t.
“I’m incredibly jealous… opportunities not just to enroll in two classes at once, and get that wide breath of education, but also opportunities to get educated in an affordable and welcoming environment like ELAC on things that matter and issues that you won’t be able to explore until you get to a university,” Escobar said.
The partnership is between the Los Angeles Community College District and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The departments and clubs handed out flyers, gave information to students about their club or department and some handed out food and snacks.
“At first the students didn’t want to come to ELAC, but now I see that they’re motivated and they’re starting to ask questions about what they can be involved in and they’re pumped up to come here.
When they were giving information about LA Promise, I loved it because they were able to apply right there and then,” Jackie Villalpando a counselor at Oscar De La Hoya Charter School said.