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Aly Yamaichi, 16, Kathryn Salas, 15, and Ishmael Salazar, 15, all students from San Jose High Academy, visited SJSU on Wednesday afternoon as part of a teen-learning program geared toward educating high school students about college.

Students from San Jose High Academy use their brains to decipher the two images that are present in the glass case at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library on Wednesday during their tour at SJSU.

A look ahead at San Jose State

San Jose High Academy youths get taste of campus, possibility

By: John Ellis

Posted: 4/17/08

More than 60 10th-graders from San Jose High Academy came to SJSU to experience university life and create a "college-going culture" in neighborhoods where few people enroll in higher education.

The high school students' visit was a collaborative effort between their school, CommUniverCity and AmeriCorps VISTA, a domestic version of the Peace Corps.

"We want them to get interested in going to college, hopefully SJSU," said Dayana Salazar, the executive director for CommUniverCity, a program that brings together the university, the City of San Jose and communities.

Jer Soriano, assistant principal at San Jose High, said the focus usually is on junior or senior high school students but that sometimes their perspectives on college are skeptical. He said that working with 10th-graders is important because it gets the idea of higher education in their minds early.

"We want to plant the seed now," Soriano said. "A lot of these students will be first-time high school grads in their families. We want to break that cycle."

Alexandria Sotelo, a San Jose High student, said she wants to go to college and major in sports medicine.

"I've grown up with sports, and if I'm not playing it, I want to be a part of it," said Sotelo, 15. "I'll probably go here because I want to be close to home."

Ishmael Salazar, also a San Jose High student, said he wants to go to SJSU and major in engineering.

"I like working with mechanical stuff," said Salazar, 15.

The fieldtrip was sponsored by Nvidia, a visual computing technologies company that provided a $2,000 grant to pay for buses, food, printing costs and other expenses, and was organized in part by Ricardo Agredano, an AmeriCorps volunteer who works with the CommUniverCity program at SJSU.

Agredano said he looks for programs he can implement in "underserved areas" of the city.

"We're trying to promote a college-going culture for kids in general in areas that need it," he said.

The high school students went on a tour of the campus, including a trip to the library, where some signed up for library cards, and a brief stop to SJSU's radio station, 90.5 KSJS.

The high school students also took part in a college workshop that was presented by the university's education department. They were shown how to apply for college and financial aid, and they had the opportunity to ask questions about enrollment.

The experience ended at the San Jose City Council building on Santa Clara Street, where the students heard from five SJSU alumni who now work for the city. City Councilman Sam Liccardo, who represents District 3 in downtown, presented the panel to the students.

"If you want to go to college you have to start now," Liccardo said. "I hope you take seriously what you hear from these graduates; they come from a really good institution."