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SHI students experience life as college students

For five South Houston Intermediate School eighth graders, the journey to college has already begun as they recently spent an entire weekend as college students at the University of Houston-Downtown.

Jose Alvarez, Pedro Isidro, Idalia Martinez, Carlos Trevino, Olga Trevino and Anthony Gonzalez lived the college life for a weekend recently as part of the Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP) and the University of Houston-Downtown Scholar Weekends program.

Scholar Weekends is an opportunity for students in grades 8-11 to take short college courses during weekend long programs at the university. Eligible students must have been recognized in the Duke University TIP, which is a non-profit organization that recognizes academically qualified students and invites them to complete college entrance exams (SAT or ACT) alongside high school students. Students are recognized for their test scores, provided with detailed information about their abilities and introduced to a network of academic opportunities through the program.

"It is very important to capture the interest of students on their future post-secondary goals at an early age," said South Houston's GEAR UP coordinator Neitzy Retta. "Career oriented workshops such as the Scholar Weekends provide the students with hands-on experience and education on several careers."

The students were able to choose to attend one of five courses during the Scholar Weekend. Alvarez and Isidro chose the "Extreme Engineering: A Design Challenge" course in which they learned first-hand how engineers succeed while working under constraints. They were presented with a "MacGyver" design challenge where they only had a limited supply of every day materials available to solve their problem. While solving their problem, the students were able to investigate real-life examples of "extreme" design challenges from many engineering discipline and learned how engineers use their proficiency in math, science and creativity.

"Having the opportunity to take a course such as the extreme engineering one provides accelerated enrichment for students on topics they can't typically take courses in at this age," said Pasadena ISD's GEAR UP coordinator Karen McCarley. "It allows them to explore a topic and make connections between that topic, the education required to study that topic and the future careers related to it."

Martinez, Gonzalez, and Carlos and Olga Trevino enrolled in "The Super Bowl Commercial Phenomenon" course where they were able to create self-produced commercials on gum product called Gumza.

"I wanted to learn about media," said Martinez. "We invented and advertised for a product called Gumza. It was really fun and interesting to make the commercial."

The students learned techniques for effective commercial writing by hearing about the inside stories behind great Super Bowl commercials and analyzing the ideas and key points that resulted in their success. They judged commercials for their effectiveness using a remote polling device and then wrote the storyboard for their own $2.6 million commercial. 

"We learned a lot about cameras and the editing process," said Olga. "It's hard work but a lot of fun." 

But the Scholar Weekend wasn't all about taking classes. The soon-to-be college scholars also stayed the night in a university dorm, ate university food and toured the campus during their stay.  

"It was fun experiencing the college life," said Gonzalez. "I got to see what real college students do almost every day, and I can't wait to be able to really live that way." 

Other courses the students could have chosen included "Is There a Doctor in the House?," "Detective with a Syringe," "Decision 2008: Presidential Campaigns and Elections," "Out of the Box: Writing Creatively," and "Criminal Trial Advocacy." 

Along with having fun as a college student, Retta said this experience helped prepare her students for college by providing them with the information needed to start making decisions. 

"Programs like this one prepare students with a pathway to their future," she said. "It gives them guidance on what classes are recommended to take in high school and what colleges are popular for that particular career. Students can start researching universities offering that major and start planning out their post-secondary education." 

Retta also said the Scholar Weekend will push her students ahead of their peers and that she hopes it motivated them to be excited about and involved in their education. 

"When you provide students with this type of experience, you provide them with a purpose as to why they are in school," she said. "We expect students to perform well in school, but we also need to show them what they can become if they do. When students are exposed to college and obtain knowledge of careers, they start thinking big."