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Let High Schoolers Dream Too
By Yvonne Watterson | August 21, 2008
| Hispanic Institute of Social Issues © 2006-2011 All rights reserved. webmaster@hisi.org |
The successes belong to the resilient
students, documented and
undocumented, whose commitment
to academic excellence has been
inspiring.
Photo by Eduardo Barraza
students, documented and
undocumented, whose commitment
to academic excellence has been
inspiring.
Photo by Eduardo Barraza
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Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues in Phoenix, Arizona
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| HISTORY IS ABOUT TO CHANGE Grassroots Journalism |
| Documented Dreams |
| A collection of letters written by students struggling to continue with their education due to their immigration status. The letters document the socio-economic plight of Arizona immigrant students who were brought to the United States as children, and due to their legal status are forced to abandon college or pay out-of-the state tuition. A fully bilingual book in English and Spanish; includes black and white photographs. $19.95 + $3.99 s/h Total $23.94 |
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Phoenix, Arizona –The urge to support American-raised young people
who want to realize their American dream of a college education is
heartening to an immigrant like me. The American Dream Fund has
also stepped up for this particular group of students who need their
advocacy and their financial support. While the Dream Fund allows us
to do something that honors honorable adult children of immigrants,
it unfortunately does not address fulfilling the dreams of many other
kids. I’d like to tell you about some of them.
They are minors, and under federal law are entitled to a free public
education regardless of status. In Arizona, they are also entitled to
pursue their K-12 education at a public school of choice, a charter
school like mine. My charter is the only Early College High School in
our city. As such, our mission is to support students to earn both a
high school diploma and an AA degree upon graduation.
Typically, our kids come to us from parents who didn’t go to college,
parents who perhaps don’t speak English, and always from parents
who want only the best for their children. They also come to us with
an unwavering commitment to ‘do college early,’ which will eliminate
some of the financial obstacles they would otherwise encounter as
‘first generation’ students. As Principal, I use my state funding to pay
for college tuition and textbooks to ensure that ALL 240 students
can participate fully in this innovative mission-driven charter high
school.
Until Prop 300 passed, that’s what they did. All dreams were within
reach. Students were safe, successful, and in school. Our data tells
the story: since its redesign in 2003, our school’s attendance rate
has improved from 50% to 94%, and our drop out rate has
decreased from 50% to 1.4%, our Math AIMs scores reveal that in
2003 NO students met the standard in math; now over 74% meet
the standards. Last May, our 40 Seniors graduated with a combined
802 college credits. Clearly, dreams have come true here.
The successes belong to the resilient students, documented and
undocumented, whose commitment to academic excellence has been
inspiring. But the stakes are much higher for my undocumented
students, because their academic success has been hindered by an
action over which they had no control – brought to this country as
infants, they now face an uncertain future not just in this state, but
in the very classrooms they attend every day as high school
children.
They are no longer entitled to the same opportunity as their
American born peers, those with whom they were promoted from
elementary school, those with whom they played and prayed, those
with whom they saluted the American flag every day in grade
school. Until Prop 300 passed, I used my state funding to pay for
the college coursework that is integral to our unique high school
program. When it passed, my undocumented children, innocent
victims, were denied access to that free public high school education
afforded to everyone else.
But, our program is still intact because of the kindness of strangers,
strangers I’ve come to rely on ever since the menacing measure
passed. And students have been able to continue their high school
program and to dream again. Students like Jose, who came here to
our country as a toddler, and took his first tentative steps on Arizona
soil, and saved every certificate he ever earned including the one he
received for good citizenship when he was 1o. Students like Noemi,
who finished our high school program this year as a bilingual Nursing
Assistant with 56 college credits (had it not been for Prop 300, she
would have had an AA degree). I find it un-American that supporters
of Prop 300 would not be interested in welcoming Noemi who wants
only to contribute positively to the only community she’s ever known.
Recently, a BBC PRI broadcast featured our school, and a kind
immigrant couple in Ohio responded immediately with a $10,000
endowment in honor of Bob Jones, Former Superintendent of the
Balsz District. Ironically, Bob had spoken out on that program about
the fear in which these children live. Ironically, Bob died the day it
aired, but we have an opportunity now to remember his work to
honor these kids and their dreams and to challenge the
dehumanizing stereotypes often used to label them. I also heard
from the great grandson of Hugh Hunter Creighton. Hugh had been
an ‘undocumented’ immigrant himself back in the 1870’s. What would
he of what’s happening to undocumented high school kids at the
intersection of 40th Street and Washington, not too far away from
Creighton schools, which were his gift to the city of Phoenix?
I am deeply grateful for the kindness of strangers; for the letters of
support from all over the country, and for the financial contributions,
most of which range from $25 - $100. I realize it’s a temporary
solution, but given the vitriol that characterizes the immigration
debate here, I doubt that Prop 300 is a temporary measure. I need
to find new and sustainable ways of funding an early college high
school education for my students. A contribution to the Dr. Robert
Jones Memorial Fund will keep my kids’ dreams alive. They have
already proven they can do college early; with grace and gratitude
they have risen to the occasion, but they can only do so if private
donations keep coming in. To make a donation, make checks payable
to the Dr. Robert Jones Memorial Fund and mail to Alma Padilla,
Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation, 2411 W. 14th Street,
Tempe AZ 85281
Yvonne Watterson is beginning her sixth year of GateWay Eearly College
High School in Phoenix. She is the 2008 City of Phoenix MLK Living the
Dream Award and also received the Moral Courage Award form the NAU
Martin Springer Institute and the AZ Hispanic School Administrator’s
Association Courageous Principal award .
who want to realize their American dream of a college education is
heartening to an immigrant like me. The American Dream Fund has
also stepped up for this particular group of students who need their
advocacy and their financial support. While the Dream Fund allows us
to do something that honors honorable adult children of immigrants,
it unfortunately does not address fulfilling the dreams of many other
kids. I’d like to tell you about some of them.
They are minors, and under federal law are entitled to a free public
education regardless of status. In Arizona, they are also entitled to
pursue their K-12 education at a public school of choice, a charter
school like mine. My charter is the only Early College High School in
our city. As such, our mission is to support students to earn both a
high school diploma and an AA degree upon graduation.
Typically, our kids come to us from parents who didn’t go to college,
parents who perhaps don’t speak English, and always from parents
who want only the best for their children. They also come to us with
an unwavering commitment to ‘do college early,’ which will eliminate
some of the financial obstacles they would otherwise encounter as
‘first generation’ students. As Principal, I use my state funding to pay
for college tuition and textbooks to ensure that ALL 240 students
can participate fully in this innovative mission-driven charter high
school.
Until Prop 300 passed, that’s what they did. All dreams were within
reach. Students were safe, successful, and in school. Our data tells
the story: since its redesign in 2003, our school’s attendance rate
has improved from 50% to 94%, and our drop out rate has
decreased from 50% to 1.4%, our Math AIMs scores reveal that in
2003 NO students met the standard in math; now over 74% meet
the standards. Last May, our 40 Seniors graduated with a combined
802 college credits. Clearly, dreams have come true here.
The successes belong to the resilient students, documented and
undocumented, whose commitment to academic excellence has been
inspiring. But the stakes are much higher for my undocumented
students, because their academic success has been hindered by an
action over which they had no control – brought to this country as
infants, they now face an uncertain future not just in this state, but
in the very classrooms they attend every day as high school
children.
They are no longer entitled to the same opportunity as their
American born peers, those with whom they were promoted from
elementary school, those with whom they played and prayed, those
with whom they saluted the American flag every day in grade
school. Until Prop 300 passed, I used my state funding to pay for
the college coursework that is integral to our unique high school
program. When it passed, my undocumented children, innocent
victims, were denied access to that free public high school education
afforded to everyone else.
But, our program is still intact because of the kindness of strangers,
strangers I’ve come to rely on ever since the menacing measure
passed. And students have been able to continue their high school
program and to dream again. Students like Jose, who came here to
our country as a toddler, and took his first tentative steps on Arizona
soil, and saved every certificate he ever earned including the one he
received for good citizenship when he was 1o. Students like Noemi,
who finished our high school program this year as a bilingual Nursing
Assistant with 56 college credits (had it not been for Prop 300, she
would have had an AA degree). I find it un-American that supporters
of Prop 300 would not be interested in welcoming Noemi who wants
only to contribute positively to the only community she’s ever known.
Recently, a BBC PRI broadcast featured our school, and a kind
immigrant couple in Ohio responded immediately with a $10,000
endowment in honor of Bob Jones, Former Superintendent of the
Balsz District. Ironically, Bob had spoken out on that program about
the fear in which these children live. Ironically, Bob died the day it
aired, but we have an opportunity now to remember his work to
honor these kids and their dreams and to challenge the
dehumanizing stereotypes often used to label them. I also heard
from the great grandson of Hugh Hunter Creighton. Hugh had been
an ‘undocumented’ immigrant himself back in the 1870’s. What would
he of what’s happening to undocumented high school kids at the
intersection of 40th Street and Washington, not too far away from
Creighton schools, which were his gift to the city of Phoenix?
I am deeply grateful for the kindness of strangers; for the letters of
support from all over the country, and for the financial contributions,
most of which range from $25 - $100. I realize it’s a temporary
solution, but given the vitriol that characterizes the immigration
debate here, I doubt that Prop 300 is a temporary measure. I need
to find new and sustainable ways of funding an early college high
school education for my students. A contribution to the Dr. Robert
Jones Memorial Fund will keep my kids’ dreams alive. They have
already proven they can do college early; with grace and gratitude
they have risen to the occasion, but they can only do so if private
donations keep coming in. To make a donation, make checks payable
to the Dr. Robert Jones Memorial Fund and mail to Alma Padilla,
Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation, 2411 W. 14th Street,
Tempe AZ 85281
Yvonne Watterson is beginning her sixth year of GateWay Eearly College
High School in Phoenix. She is the 2008 City of Phoenix MLK Living the
Dream Award and also received the Moral Courage Award form the NAU
Martin Springer Institute and the AZ Hispanic School Administrator’s
Association Courageous Principal award .
