Summer Academy Has Yearlong Outreach

Each summer, close to 40 bright young high school students have an intensive two-week experience in which they learn what it’s like living and studying at a private liberal arts college. They are members of the Scripps College Summer Academy, now in its fifth year, which assists high potential, underrepresented young women with high potential to succeed in high school and prepare for entrance into college.

Now, thanks to a $189,313 grant from the California Educational Facilities Authority (CEFA), the program can extend its outreach.

“The CEFA grant will allow us to provide essential academic resource programs so that we have a consistent, year-round effort and maintain communication and mentoring services at our partner schools,” said SCSA Director Sylvia Ruiz ’05.

With the CEFA grant, Scripps plans to implement additional initiatives to reach out to its 19 partner high schools and four middle schools in the Inland Empire and greater Los Angeles and provide ongoing contact, early intervention, reliable follow up, and long-term relationships through peer- mentoring and qualified advising.

Participants in the academy have had a high success rate, both in graduating from high school and in gaining acceptance to several of the nation’s most selective colleges, including Scripps. This fall, two former academy members are in Scripps’ entering class, bringing to five the number of members who have enrolled at Scripps since the academy began.

Jose Gomez, executive director of California Educational Facilities Authority, presents a check to Sylvia Ruiz, far right, director of SCSA. Also shown are Summer Gray (PO ’06), SCSA assistant director, and Professor Nancy Neiman Auerbach, who teaches in SCSA.

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