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Summer Programs Lead Future Generation to College Success-Hopefully at Merritt College!

More than 50 high school students in the Adelante Summer Program at Merritt and Fruitvale are transitioning toward the next step in their education as they learn about college success, explore careers, and find out the benefits of attending Merritt College. The program is one of several summer opportunities at Merritt to give participants a taste of Merritt at an age when they are beginning to decide on their future.

The 7-year-old program, which started in Fruitvale seven years ago and expanded to Merritt three years ago, offers students classes in English and Counseling and gives them a comprehensive overview of Merritt College. This year the East Bay College Fund, which helps Oakland student succeed in college, is partnering with Adelante and offering $1,000 scholarships to students who complete the summer program and enroll at Merritt (last year 75% of the 60 participants enrolled at Merritt).

“Our mission is to provide a supporting and caring environment to these students who we recruited from Oakland feeder high schools, the majority from underserved populations,” says Counselor and Program Coordinator Rosa Perez, who oversees the overall program and serves as counselor at Merritt (with counterpart Marty Zielke at Fruitvale) . “We’re excited that the program to partner with East Bay College Fund which may expand to all four colleges if successful.”

Another successul summer program, now approaching its tenth year, is Merritt’s Kids Camp whose speciality is turning educational lessons and positive talks on the importance of going to college, with fun, hands-on experiences that the campers love. By the end of the two-week camp, the 30 students in 6^th-9^th grades had learned about topics including microscopy, nutrition, capoeira, fire science, art, and administration of justice with a surprise visit from an OPD helicopter which landed on campus as part of Margaret Dixon’s AJ presentation.

quote from NeShawn – I was so excited to have a student . come to my office who had been a camper and thank me for leadiing hi mto Merritt. “It made all the work worthwhile to know that we are reaching student who are continuing their educaiton at merritt. interspersedwith positive talks on the importance of going to college. The program, coordinated by Ne’Shawn Dixon in Division I, which has been a huge success at bringing together community 6th to 9th graders for fun hands-on experience. By the end of

Turning educational lessons into fun hands-on experiences is a specialty of Merritt’s Kids College, along with great counselors and positive talks on the importance of going to college, and this year was no exception. By the end of the two-week camp, the 30 students in 6^th-9^th grades had learned about topics including microscopy, nutrition, capoeira, fire science, art, and administration of justice with a surprise visit from an OPD helicopter which landed on campus as part of Margaret Dixon’s AJ presentation.

“By the end-of-camp celebration, the campers presentations showed how much they had learned,” says Camp Coordinator Ne’Shawn Dixon, who worked with Dr. Siri Brown. “It’s amazing and gratifying to watch.” Thanks to faculty and staff volunteers Margaret Dixon, Sean Gascie, Laura Cooper, Brian Rowning, Mary Louise Zericke, Elaine Wallace, Eric Hansen, and Chelsea Kubischta, and others, as well as Roy Wilson from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Center.

Students in CyberCamp Get Valuable Experience for Future Careers

Young students who wanted to learn about cybersecurity, get hands-on experience, and find out about education and career options were thrilled to be part of a five-day Cybercamp. For the second year, Merritt was invited to participate in this nationwide effort by the Air Force Association to inspire students to pursue STEM-related activities outside of . “and participaitng in competitions This was a wonderful opportunity for students with an interest in computer science, technology, engineering and math to get experience for their,” says Anita Black, Program Director for Merritt’s Cybersecurity Program, who oversaw the camp which was coordinated and led by instructor Beverly Brooks. “We hope to see some of the participants in our own program in a few years!”

and college success and and exploring the college and A large group of 58 high school students (pictured) will be freshman at Merritt this fall thanks to the four-week Adelante Summer Bridge Program which gave them the tools to gently transition toward the next step in their education. The four-week program focused on college success and career exploration, with classes in English and Counseling, and a chance to make new friends. “Our mission is to provide a supporting and caring environment to these students who we recruited from Oakland feeder high schools, the majority from underserved populations,” says Counselor Rosa Perez, who coordinated the program with the help of Marty Zielke. “We were so proud to participate in their graduation celebration, and now to see them walking around campus is a great feeling.”

Students in CyberCamp Get Valuable Experience for Future Careers

Young students who wanted to learn about cybersecurity, get hands-on experience, and find out about education and career options were thrilled to be part of a five-day Cybercamp. This year Merritt was invited to participate in this nationwide effort by the Air Force Association to inspire students to pursue STEM-related activities outside of . “This was a wonderful opportunity for students with an interest in computer science, technology, engineering and math to get experience for their,” says Anita Black, Program Director for Merritt’s Cybersecurity Program, who oversaw the camp which was coordinated and led by instructor Beverly Brooks. “We hope to see some of the participants in our own program in a few years!”

Kids College Completes 7^th Year of
Hands-on Fun and Education

(MORE PHOTOS BELOW) If you happened to walk by a classroom this summer and saw younger-than-usual college students in bright yellow t-shirts dissecting cows’ eyeballs in a microscopy class or making slime in a chemistry lab, those were the 6th-9th graders enrolled in Kids College who were getting their first taste of college life–and having fun at the same time!

For the 9th year, Kids College has been offering these young adults the chance to get hands-on college experiences in Merritt’s classrooms taught by Merritt’s own faculty to prepare them for making decisions about their future. Along with the science classes, the campers worked on computers, learned about fingerprinting and careers in police work, participated in the martial art/dance form capoeira, got creative with art and hip hop dance lessons, had fun decorating (and eating!) cupcakes, learned entrepreneurial skills and debate techniques, and participated in classes about nutrition, nursing, fashion/photography, and fire science, and went on a treasure hunt. And of course the campers had plenty of time to get out their energy with free-time playing sports and making friends.

On “graduation” day, in front of friends and family, groups of campers made presentations based on what they learned in their entrepreneur class: a plan for a business they created and an explanation of how the business would give back to the community.

“It’s a great opportunity for the campers to try out different activities that may give them ideas about future careers just as they are beginning to think about college,” says Ne’Shawn Dixon, Kids College Coordinator. “We’re lucky at Merritt to have such great programs for the students to participate in and instructors who are willing to give their time.”

Ne’Shawn would like to thank faculty members who did an amazing job with the kids: Margaret Dixon (Administration of Justice); Elaine Wallace (CSI/Administration of Justice); Laura Coooper (Chemistry); Mary Zernicke (Nutrition); and Eric Hansen (Music). And instructors from the community: Kenneth Pitts of Pitts Martial Arts (Capoeira) and Choreographer Kayla Hightower (Dance).

Thanks also to the camp’s dedicated counselors Brianna Brown (lead), Ariel Gilliam, Austin Cook, and Ruqaiyah Ghilchrist for supervising the campers, working with the instructors, and demonstrating leadership skills.

And, as always, thanks for the help of our great custodial staff: Vince and James.

For information about next year’s camp, go to www.merritt.edu