Kofa High School College Bridge Program

This project explores the preparation of students from Kofa High School for a four-year higher education institution with the resources provided to them by their school. The Kofa High School College Bridge Program aims to assist students, many of whom will be first-generation college students, through workshops covering topics such as financial literacy, standardized testing, psychological makeup, team-building activities, leadership, and more. Workshops included first-hand testimony from college students about their experiences at a four-year institution. With the high number of Hispanics living in Yuma, Arizona and attending Kofa High School, the students fit into the statistics that Hispanics are less likely to achieve a four-year college education. Many public schools including Kofa High School have college-bound or honors programs in place to combat these statistics and to challenge students academically to prepare them for a higher education. Ashley and Levi collaborated with two AVID classes for freshman and sophomores, to survey students about their perceptions of college, the factors that are holding them back, the problems that they feel their school can improve on the most, and a few more. By conducting monthly workshops, in addition to their normal curriculum, the students gained a greater understanding of the importance of higher education. These monthly workshops included learning about the skills needed to succeed in high school in order for them to succeed in the next two or three years before applying to a university.