Ever wondered what it takes to truly empower first-generation college students? Denise El Habach, a fierce advocate and a Gear Up Coach at Youngker High School, Buckeye, Arizona, has some answers that might surprise you. With an insider's perspective, Denise takes us on a journey into the inspiring and challenging world of working with first-generation college-bound students. From helping these students navigate the maze of college admissions and FAFSA, to fostering a supportive, college-going culture at school, she's got it covered.
We'll unpack the powerhouse tool - the College, Career, and Future Ready Toolkit. Denise and her colleagues have poured their expertise into developing this toolkit, designed to demystify the post-secondary transition process and engage families in their children's academic journeys. From summer counseling sessions to unravelling the complex steps of the college enrollment process, Denise's approach is all about simplifying and reducing confusion. She also touches on the potential impact of the delayed FAFSA timeline on students.
In the final segment of our conversation, Denise offers insights on how to nurture a college-going culture, the importance of celebrating milestones like Decision Day and the vast pool of resources available for first-generation students. She stresses the importance of equipping students with the information they need to confidently navigate the college enrollment process. Wrapping up the discussion, Denise invites listeners to share their feedback or express interest in joining us as a guest on the podcast. This is an episode that promises to leave you with a deeper understanding and appreciation of the challenges and triumphs of empowering first-generation college students. Tune in!
The College, Career, and Future Ready Toolkit can be found here.
Denise's bio
I have been in education since 2004 as a high school teacher, a school counselor and now a GEAR UP Coach. My role is to help students and their families understand the options and steps of post secondary transition and to establish a college going culture. I've been a Gear UP coach since 2020 and I truly believe I found my dream job! I also love being outdoors like camping, fishing, hiking etc spending time with my husband, our two beautiful children and our dog!
Please help others find this podcast by rating and reviewing wherever you listen!
You can find me at https://www.firstgenfm.com/ and on LinkedIn. My email is jen@firstgenfm.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hi and welcome to First Gen FM, a podcast for
educators who want to learn moreabout serving, working with,
celebrating first generationcollege bound and college
students.
Thank you so much for listeningto this podcast.
Thank you, denise, who is myguest today.
(00:36):
Denise Elhabish is here and sheis from Yonker High School in
Buckeye, arizona, and she is agear up coach, so I'm really
excited to talk to someone whois in the high schools working
with first generation collegebound students about what
they're doing and how they'redoing it, and so we're going to
look at the college career andfuture ready toolkit.
(00:56):
We're going to talk aboutestablishing a college going
culture and Denise is going tobe our guide today, so welcome,
denise.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited just to talkabout probably my favorite topic
of all time.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure, but let's start with a
little bit of your story.
What was the spark that got youinto education and,
specifically, you know, wantingto work with first generation
college bound students?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I think people will be shocked to know that I was
super shy when I was younger inthe public education system and
I wasn't a great academicstudent, but one thing I really
did well was math and explainingit to others Well, so that was
my spark was I got so almost ina drunken rush of being able to
(01:46):
teach my peers or my friends howto do a math problem and they
were so excited that theyunderstood it, and then they
would send more people to me andI kept doing it again.
It was awesome and so that waskind of like kickstarted my path
to education and I taughthealth for a while is really
intrigued with the mental health, social, emotional side of it.
(02:10):
And so I got my degree incounseling and found my way to
Arizona.
Someone called me up and toldme about this position.
I'm like this sounds like adream job.
I can't wait.
Hopefully I get it.
I'm grateful that I'm here and,yeah, I got the position and
that's where I'm at now.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
That's awesome.
So do you do?
Do you still use your yourfinely honed math and math
teaching skills and yourcounseling sort of together in
this work that you're doing?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So I think the math is coming off.
It's a different now, but thestory behind it and letting kids
know you really have the powerto do whatever it is you want to
do.
You just got to make up yourmind that that's what you're
going to do and move forwardwith it.
And I share my story of how Istruggled.
It was not a great high schoolstudent, you know.
(02:58):
I didn't know what I was doing.
It felt very lost and notrealizing at the time.
I was also first generation andso, just like letting them know
, like human to human, like I,just my mind was made up to do
what I was going to do and Ijust went for it.
And so, yeah, the math has lostand that's like another
language, but the counselingskills and just the
(03:20):
understanding of thepost-secondary transition piece
of it is a huge part of what Ido.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, and that is a huge transition and I don't, I
don't think students givethemselves enough credit for,
for getting ready for and makingthat transition for sure, and
we might touch upon that alittle bit later.
So tell me about this what areyou called the college career
and future ready toolkit thatyou use?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So we had the opportunity to submit a proposal
to present at a conference andI've never done this before and
like, wow, this is exciting andnerve wracking when people don't
come, or what if they get upand leave, like we're like.
So we really startedbrainstorming with my crew so
there's more gear up, peoplethat I work with in the state of
(04:06):
Arizona and what would we wantto get out of a session.
And then we kind of startedfrom there and we created the
toolkit for people to use borrow, steal whatever idea they can,
as much as their heart desires,so they don't have to reinvent
the wheel, so not just hearingabout it, actually giving them
(04:26):
the tangibles.
So anything we createdpresentations, the worksheet,
flyers, all of that of our bestpractices, of where we really
saw success is all in thetoolkit that anyone can add
Access.
That's great.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
And what kind of conversations did you have about
what you would put in there andwhat is in there?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So we really started talking about at each site.
Right, we all been there, donethat, we all have the same goals
and we all do things a littlebit differently.
So we started talking about oursuperpower, right, like what
each campus has, if they'resuper out power, and then we all
put our two cents in and we'relike, okay, this is amazing.
So things like growing a college, going culture what does that
(05:14):
look like?
Increasing knowledge andexperience with the process,
with students and really gettingthem to understand what it
means for post-secondarytransition.
Increasing family engagement,getting parents on board we do a
big senior family night kickofffor the beginning of the school
(05:35):
year, so all the tools for thatas far as how we invite them,
how we promote what we send home, how we get the kids involved,
what we order for food and allthese other tips and tricks to
increase participation and thenthem walking away with.
What we're hoping for is theconnection between what we've
(05:58):
been telling their kids and whatthey can be doing to help at
home, kind of marry at thatpoint.
And so that's kind of thehighlight of the toolkit when we
get to the end is everythingthat we've done has laid the
foundation, and then, once weget to senior year, we kind of
piece everything together forthe action step.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, I love that.
I love bringing the families in, because there's such an
important support system thatsometimes get overlooked or
sometimes not looked at asallies as much as they should be
.
So I love that you bring themin kind of in the senior year
and say like, hey, look at allthis.
So now I have all thesequestions based on what you said
(06:39):
.
What do you find are some ofthe myths that students or myths
or misinformation, however youwant to think of it that
students are coming in withabout going to college?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I think two big ones.
One they think it's too hard,Like they can't do it.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I can't go to college , it's too hard.
I think the other one is that Ican't afford it.
And so we break that down withkids a lot and we're going to
talk about you as an individualin self-discovery and
understanding the potentialthat's out there, and why are
you limiting yourself and whereis that coming from and how do
(07:19):
we move past it and things likethat.
And we just let them know aboutyou.
Hear that it's hard work, it'sa transitional period, just like
leaving eighth grade to go intohigh school is a transitional
period.
But so we really help them getmore confident about the process
and that there's more ways toget from point A, which is
(07:41):
graduating high school, to pointB, which is their career.
I really feel like helps themfeel more empowered and less
intimidated.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, I'm just going to say too is that it's hard?
Is that about just theadmissions process, which,
granted, is hard because it'snot really all that transparent,
or is it about the work thatthey're going to have to do in
college to get to the careers?
Is it a combination of thosethings?
(08:11):
Or do you find students arejust so freaked out about
admissions that they're not eventhinking about what's next in
college?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I feel like for our students where they're at a lot
of that, yes, but not even theadmissions.
Once they do admissions, Iagree that it's not necessarily
intuitive, but when we're theredoing it with them and then it
happens, and then they getaccepted, they're very excited.
For me, where the barrierreally comes with the enrollment
process, I feel like all thosesteps that come in after the
(08:39):
application is so cumbersome andso intimidating for a kid,
where I think it's easy for themto throw their hands up and say
, okay, I'm done.
I don't get this, I don'tunderstand this terminology, I
don't know what they're askingme.
I did this already.
All those things come to mind.
And so we offer summercounseling.
Oh, fantastic.
(09:00):
Once they graduate, we set upappointments all summer to help
them with all that.
It is not intuitive.
I'm looking at this.
I'm like kid, I don't knoweither.
Let's call Right, right.
It doesn't make sense to me.
I don't get it either.
Let's figure it out together.
But I can see for a lot of kidsthey were doing it on their own
, especially if they don't haveanyone else, I've done it.
(09:22):
It falls by the wayside, butyeah.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, so are some of those things, maybe responding
for verification requests fromfinancial aid or and housing
information and probably like,oh, do you need insurance or
should you wave insurance?
Are those the kinds of thingsyou're talking about, that
they're working through?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yes, and it's some kids.
We have really goodopportunities here in Arizona
where kids can get free tuitionand fees and their campuses are
drivable, close, so they won'tlive on campus but they're
getting their four-year degreefor free.
So those kids, for example,there's a process to disconnect
(10:05):
or discontinue the housing.
Part of it is not intuitive atall.
Now they're getting billed forhousing and their amount of
living.
I thought Ari told them theywasn't.
So it's so fine Interest things.
That's all case by case andeveryone's in a different
scenario, connecting their FAFSA, like you said, verification,
or simply with our communitycolleges.
(10:26):
They don't even know.
The kids filled the FAFSA outlike mid year, their senior year
.
The community college won'tprocess it until June, sometime
in their class to start inAugust.
So they're panicking becausethey're getting billed Like
you're all right, don't pay it,we already have it covered.
It just takes a while just forthem to understand timelines and
all those fine pieces that arereally just nerve-racking for a
(10:51):
kid who's never done it before.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Right, right, and how would they know?
And that financial aid piece Ishake my head but I also have to
laugh.
I mean, it's just so backwards.
It's like we know you're goingto get financial aid, but we're
going to bill you, so firstwe're going to cause you to just
worry, and then suddenly thenwe're going to take the worry
away as we disperse yourscholarship.
(11:14):
It's like there must be a way tosay like let's not bill these
students yet because until weshow them that it's like zero or
a small balance in order, theremust be a way to change that
policy.
Although, knowing what we knownow about when the FAFSA is
going to come out and when thecolleges are going to get that
information, this is probablynot the year maybe to change all
that.
(11:35):
So if anybody so if anybody'slistening hasn't heard, the
FAFSA is not going to beavailable now to December 31st,
but they're going to be delayedprocessing the information to
the colleges.
So the colleges are probablygoing not going to get anything
until the end of January.
So that's just going to delayeverybody from getting their
package, especially any earlyaction and early decision folks.
(11:57):
So kind of another hurdle.
And for first gen studentsfiguring that out and is it me?
Is it something I did?
Is it something I didn't do?
I'm so glad they have you,denise, and people like you to
sit down with them through that,especially in the summer,
because I think when schoolcounselors leave, when school
gets out and they're not reallyin college yet orientation
(12:19):
hasn't started.
They don't have any connectionto the university they're going
to yet, and their high school isout of session, so they're just
like having to do things ontheir own.
So what you're doing isphenomenal, thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Thank you.
So rewarding, so rewarding, butit's a little stressful.
I feel like I should try to.
I think about all the kids thatdon't come in or that I reach
out to, that don't respond, andit's like I think they're OK,
I'm hoping they're OK and I'mlooking at some of this and I
want to know what to do.
I was on my own, so hopefullythat comes more and more part of
(12:54):
our college going process, asI'm knowing we're here all
summer Like come on in, the dooris open.
We'll have a snack coming out,yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah, We'll have a snack and we have air
conditioning.
I imagine you say that a lottoo, right, being in Arizona.
So it's interesting.
You talk about a college readyand you talk about career and
future ready.
So are there different parts ofit where you don't necessarily
skip the college part, but maybesome students we know not all
(13:25):
students go to college, but youtalk about the career and
futures.
And what does that look likefor your program and your
toolkit?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
I feel like we have a spoiled set up in a way,
because we are grateful to havea class, and this spirals from
the Gear Up Grant that's calledFuture Ready.
It's required for all of ourjuniors to take as an elective
and we're able to slide that inbecause we're on a block
(13:54):
schedule.
We don't have a traditional sixhour or six class 55 minute
class periods.
We have four classes a semester.
They're 90 minutes long.
And so it's allowed to have moreflexibility with CTE programs
and completers and things likethat, and so the Future Ready
classes built at that time, andso we laid a foundation with 9th
(14:18):
and 10th grade.
We do presentations, we invitethem to workshops or field trips
and things like that, and thenwe get to Future Ready and it's
all about them, since we're downright from the get go.
It's all about self discoveryand exploration and really
taking the time to learn what'sout there, because we're
honestly ignorant.
There's so much out there forevery kid.
(14:39):
That is just like that.
Don't feel like you have to fityourself in the typical.
I want to be in business, Iwant to be in medical Like
that's great if that's what youwant to do.
But let's really be morespecific.
Like what about it?
Do you really want to do?
I'm not sure.
Okay, let's get after it.
So we start right away withpersonality assessments and
(15:00):
career assessments that reallybring it down, not just with
pathway, but like specificcareers that they would do well.
That based off their personalityand their skill set and their
academics.
Then we either set up jobshadowing opportunity so they
can see and learn what it's like, or a very popular one just a
(15:21):
little bit easier to manage isphone calls.
We have a huge directory thatwe collected over the years so
that kids have access.
Oh, this is Barbara.
I want to be a Barbara.
All right, call three differentbarbers.
These are the questions you canask them.
You can ask them your ownquestions too, but if you're
stuck or you get nervous, youdon't know what to say, and this
is what will help you reallylearn what the job is like.
(15:43):
These are questions that youcan ask, and so it's an
assignment that they work on toreally learn.
Is this really what I want todo or is it not?
Either way that's successful tome.
Then we jump in as gear upcoaches and we present a lot, do
workshops, a lot on pathways.
How do I become a barber?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
There's more than one way to become a barber?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
How do I get into nursing there's more than one
way to do that and reallydetailing their plan.
Then we tell them pick two andgo after both of those plans as
if you're your plan A.
You're opening up the door forsuccess when you do that and
opportunity and you go throughthe process and then we see what
happens.
(16:25):
I feel like really gives themthat sense of security and
confidence to move forward withthe action steps when they
become a senior.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah, I love that.
Have a plan A, have a plan B,maybe even a plan C or D, and
keep your options open until youhave to make that decision and
continue to collect moreinformation as you're going
through.
I also love that you give themsome questions.
If they're a student who'seither particularly shy or just
(16:53):
doesn't even know where to start, they're like oh, I have some
questions I can ask to get megoing.
My guess is the people whosigned up to take the phone
calls from the students aregoing to warm up and help those
students, just come into theirown and then start to ask the
questions that they really have.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah, they just wrote about it.
It's super cute, Like we hear.
Well, the kids record it sothat we can help them.
Do you know what they weresaying there?
What did you think about thisand whatever.
It really gets them excitedabout the process and they're
not so intimidated.
It's nerve-wracking.
I told them I was a kid as ajunior.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I wouldn't be doing that.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
We give them a lot of encouragement and empowerment
from it.
I was like look what you justdid.
Now you know, now you haveconnections.
You haven't started yet andyou're already making
connections.
You're 16 years old, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
That networking piece and that I mean it's really
that willingness to ask for help, to go out there and say I
don't have the answers to this,I'm going to reach out to
someone.
Even though you've said it allup, they have to do it and I
think that, whether they go intoa career or whether they go to
college, having that experienceof oh yeah, I just called this
(18:11):
person, I can do that now incollege, I can ask for help, I
can reach out to people.
I love that.
That's such a wonderful program.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Okay, thank you.
Yeah, we're super lucky.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, was there anything when you were putting
it together that you were justlike, oh my gosh, like I hadn't
thought of this and maybesomebody else had?
This is such a good idea andI'm going to do it all the time
now.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I think with the parent engagement piece really
involving students in theprocess.
We went to one of the gear upconferences.
We went to a session that talkedabout increasing parent
engagement.
Now impactful it is to havestudents film and then inviting
(18:57):
their parents to come.
I had a video of my kidinviting me to something.
I could have thought it was thesilliest thing in the world.
I was like, yes, kid, I'm goingto go, I'll go to your
elementary school, applejuiceFighter, whatever.
Because they invited me, Ipulled out your heartstrings and
so really having kids or theaftermath.
(19:20):
We started our senior familynights, a very now built and I
feel like, to our school culturedeal.
Having the people that wentthrough it already, videotaping
them and inviting the people tocome to the following year one
and what they got out of it andwhy they thought was so
successful for them, personally,I feel like really helped us.
(19:43):
Then doing as much as we can inthe languages that people speak
other than English.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
We have a high Spanish population.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Even if they do speak English.
They are more comfortable withSpanish Studying home, not just
like the verbiage, but thevideos.
We had seniors who graduatedspeaking in Spanish with a QR
code.
It's scanned to a YouTube videoon the postcard when we mailed
it home Like please come tosenior family night, that's all
(20:14):
in Spanish.
Then scan this and then they'retalking more about it and get
really increased.
Then our population of Spanishspeaking families and we hosted
their own Spanish speakingsession.
Then it feel like they weresitting there in the dark not
knowing what was going on.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Right, or then the student has to be there too to
translate while someone speaking.
Yeah, I love all these things.
Clearly they all roll intocreating a college going culture
.
What have you found to besuccessful at Yonker, or most
successful, or how long have youbeen doing this, even at Yonker
(20:53):
, to get the college goingculture?
Have you seen changes?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
So your grant is unique in a way.
The first year the coaches arenot even involved at all.
I wasn't even involved in theprocess at all of creating the
future ready class, not the ideathat they had.
So year two was actually myfirst year working with the
grant with COVID.
So that was a unique again initself.
(21:18):
So year three, which was mysecond year, was my first time
really on campus.
Throughout an entire year Ijust realized visibility and
consistency.
I really has springboarded Likethis natural off, like our
(21:39):
tongue, like we talked about.
We have a senior law in skythat kids get Right and so they
document all of their thingsthat they're doing, their
college application stuff, theirfast but things If it is a
trade school and whatevermilitary, whatever it is they
want to do.
We're documenting the stepswith them and their timelines
and it's just like common naturethat we always ask them do you
(22:01):
have?
your lunch guide.
Oh yeah, yeah, it's just partof their day now.
Anytime they meet with us, theyhave their lunch guide with
them.
When we talk about fast, well,we always compare to the year
before.
So we're on the announcementsall the time.
This is where we are this week.
We're trying to beat the classfrom last year and it's just a
common thing.
A lot of juniors come in tohave a half-utu ready.
(22:23):
Yet Can I do my fast stuff?
Not yet.
Kiddos next year, but you know.
And then same thing with seniorfamily night.
We promote it, we talk about it, we have signs everywhere.
It's on the marquee, and soeven the younger grade, they are
expecting this is their fatebecause they're hearing about it
all the time.
We have a lot of juniorsvolunteer to help out at senior
(22:44):
family night, passing out thefolders, escorting families from
their car or where they'resupposed to be in what session,
so they can see it.
And we tell them this is younext year.
Like your turn, you'll haveyour turn next year and all
these things.
And so it's just really aboutbeing visible consistency.
I feel like our PAannouncements are huge for us
(23:04):
because it's part of our culturethat we're quiet At that time
you're listening.
They're important informationand the word just gets out about
what we're doing.
And now it's just how it isyeah.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Again love the system of involving the juniors in the
senior night so they can seeeverything that's going on.
So when they get there it's notnew to them or a surprise.
They're waiting for thatopportunity, and the fact that
you have somebody come in andsay, can I fill out the FAFSA
early Like that, should give youlike bonus points and gold
stars and all kinds of things.
(23:38):
I mean that's really amazing,because I'm sure there's not too
many people who are excitedabout filling out the FAFSA.
I was gonna ask you a questionabout the college going culture
piece, so what I wanted to knowis how do you then celebrate and
show that, hey, these studentsare going to college and or
(24:03):
these students are gettingscholarships to go to college
and it's paid for, to kind ofcounter some of those myths that
we talked about earlier.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
So we celebrate our seniors is another thing they
feel like they now know is athing because we've been doing
it consistently.
Every year we celebratedecision day in May.
We have a huge banner thatevery single senior gets to sign
off of.
They're the class of now coming2024.
And they do.
(24:35):
It's a big red carpet event outin our quad where everybody can
see we get lunch for them on us.
They sign in, they pick uptheir signs for whatever schools
they committed to going to orpass Like whatever it is they
committed to.
They have a sign waiting forthere for them.
(24:55):
So then they go down the redcarpet, we take their photo
paparazzi and they celebrate andthey come and sign the banner
and then they grab their lunchand they're all celebrating
together.
So that happened during.
We have two lunches, so bothlunches.
So again, the underclassmen cansee how we're celebrating these
(25:15):
kids with their journey andtheir path, regardless of what
path they are and regardless ifthey got scholarships or not.
We invite parents.
Last year was the first year weinvited parents to come.
I'm really surprised how manykids brought their parents.
It was super cute.
I was like gosh, you guysaren't too cool for school.
I love that.
So we're gonna do that againand promote it even better than
the first time.
(25:36):
We were a little weary.
We were like I don't know ifkids are gonna want their
parents to come or parents cancome because of work, and so
like that was unfair judgment.
We should have done that.
Next year We'll make sure weadvertise it better.
But as far as the scholarshipsagain a lot of it we're so
grateful to have that futureready class and that we go into
the younger grades, like ninthgrade, 10th grade we let
(25:58):
teachers know we love to comepresent.
Let us know if you're having tostop that day right to make
their life easier, we'll come inand present or if there's any
time that works in your schedulefor us to come in and we
showcase our own kids that havereceived those scholarships.
So this is a real living,breathing Yonker High School
(26:21):
student that just got this bigtime scholarship and this kid is
no different than any other kidin this room and then we're
like we always go back totrusting the process.
That's like instilled in theirbrain trust the process, go
through the steps and then seewhat happens.
We can't guarantee you're gonnaget it, but we can guarantee
you won't get it.
I love what you said.
I've been using that a lot.
(26:42):
If you don't apply right and soyou're in the same boat you're
already in and again it's giventhat courage and confidence and
support.
It will help you along thewhole way.
But let's just see what happensand then that's it, and so
that's a big piece of it.
It showcased all of our campus,like we have monitors
everywhere, we use Canva a lotand so you know their face and
(27:05):
the scholarship is like beingrun through, like they see it
all the time and they're like Ihad that kid in my culinary
class right.
Like they do that, we also dothe workshop.
They keep using that wordbecause it's designed for kids
to sign themselves up, or, likewe target kids, to personally
(27:27):
invite them to them as well.
But we also have the chance tomake the decision of what
workshop they wanna come to,kind of like we do when we go to
a conference right.
Like pick our own professionaldevelopment and so we'll have
alumni.
I can't wait.
We have a university sessioncoming on Wednesday before
Thanksgiving, and so they're off, so they are gonna come back
(27:50):
and talk about their life as acollege student Like a first
year college student.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
And then we'll have so we're talking to juniors, so
they're gonna come andco-present with me, and then we
have the seniors that areactually at our school right now
gonna come co-present also.
So they're gonna talk abouttheir experience, about applying
, getting ready for the FAS,going after these scholarships.
Some of them are doing thehonors college, some of them
(28:17):
have already done both.
They are taking advantage oftwo plans.
So they did the universityapplications, they already did
their community collegeapplication and going through
the process of that.
And then the college studenttalking about their first year.
And it's just, it's magical,it's so fun Because one the
juniors chose to be there.
So they wanna learn right.
Then you got the seniors in themix of it, Like this is your
(28:40):
fate in a year, right.
And then you got the collegekids and like, oh my gosh,
they're super star all of asudden right in their eyes, like
this kid, and they're alltalking and it's almost I don't
even really have to present.
It's almost like this.
It's this kind of opendiscussion and them learning and
taking notes and sharing, andit's super cool.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, the synergy of all of them together.
And we know from experiencethat students really listen to
other students and so, even ifwe've said it to them five times
, if a student says it, orsomeone who's in their position
a year ahead says it, they'relike oh, that's such a good idea
.
And you're sitting there sayingbut I've been saying that.
But they're.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
What do I call it?
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, no, that's such a good idea.
So, as we kind of wrap up like,what advice do you give to a
listener who is working withcollege-bound students, who's
trying to get a college goingculture, what kind of advice
would you give them?
Speaker 2 (29:42):
I'll go back to that.
Visibility and consistency.
It's the buzzwords and just gofor it.
I hear some people I'm worried,I'm going to host this and no
one's going to come.
I had that same fear too.
And you just build off of it.
You just keep trying, you justkeep going after it, you just
keep doing it and eventually itevolves into something that is
(30:04):
just part of your years.
We're doing it.
That's just it, Really justfinding your priorities and just
giving yourself 100% into it.
Then see what happens andeverything's success.
Five people, 10 people, 50,whatever it is the word of mouth
starts getting out there.
You keep doing it all the time.
(30:25):
Eventually it's going to getthere where you're going to see
the success.
But I think there is a myth thatparents are too busy or they
don't know or they don't care.
We've seen that that's not true.
They're eager and they'reexcited and they need the
confidence and the empowermenttoo to really help their student
(30:49):
.
You'll be surprised the turnout, but also advertising the way
that's going to appeal to them.
Sorry, I'm cutting in and out alittle bit.
I noticed I'm not screened.
Can you hear me okay?
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, the sound has been great, so you're good there
.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Okay, I'll keep going .
So, for I always keep goingback to the senior family night.
But we bring in our cap andgown company.
We talk about graduation, theprocess of graduation.
We have such a goodrelationship with our cap and
gown company.
Now they offer free cap andgowns and so there'll be a
drawing if they come that night.
(31:28):
Things like that that reallyhelp get the parents excited
about the process and senioryear and not just the
post-secondary stuff, becausethat's the stuff that makes them
nervous or they're scared orthey're intimidated by and even
though that's a highlight for us, it's not necessarily a
highlight for them until you getthem there and then they go
(31:49):
through the night.
But we really stress a lotabout the fun that comes of
being a senior prom and otherthings that we talk about.
I'm trying to blink a little bit.
Like all those things like oh,they're homecoming week and
senior powder puff, and like sowe lay out all the events that
(32:09):
are important to the senior andfor a lot of the families that
are important to them, and thenwe get into now what's next?
How can we help you?
This is what we've done already.
This is where we're at and weeven transformed with our
culture.
Like at first, we gave themeverything like here's the
system we wanted you to knoweverything that's in our brain
(32:31):
and now, with the help of future, ready and just establishing
the culture and laying down thefoundation, they get to senior
year.
I already know what my plan is.
I already know what my plan Bis.
Okay, now what's next?
So, just like what we do withthe workshops with our own kids,
we allow the parents to pickand the families Like what
session do you want to go to?
Do you want to go to theuniversity session?
(32:53):
Do you want to go to thecommunity college session, the
trade cool session, the tradeand teching military session?
Like, what session do you andyour family want to go to?
Now that you know what you wantto do, what's next?
What does it look like when youapply to the college and you've
been admitted?
What does it look like to getafter their scholarship portal?
(33:14):
Now, the fastest changing theseare the changes with the FAFSA,
all those things, and so it'sreally cool how it started and
where it became, and it's justgoing forward.
I guess it's.
My best advice is don't beafraid to go after it and
utilize your resources.
I'll be more than happy toshare anything from our toolkit
(33:36):
for any of our listeners outthere that are interested.
We'll send you all the info andcoordinate and you don't have to
reinvent the wheel.
It's too hard.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yes, so you'll give me a link that I can put in the
show notes so that if anybodywants to see that.
Oh, that's.
Thank you so much, denise.
That's fantastic.
My next question, though, isfor the folks like me who are in
the college, who are listeningwhat should we know about the
students that you're sending us?
Speaker 2 (34:03):
They are very excited and eager, but they still don't
know.
They don't know.
I get this almost irritatedtick when I hear, oh, they
should know how to do thatalready.
I'm like, are you kidding me?
You try it.
I'm not going to tell you howold I am Way older than these
(34:24):
kids and I'm looking at this andI'm like, gosh, I don't even
know what they're asking.
And so to know that they want tobe able to do these things and
they want to be independent andthey are, but they've never done
it before.
They have never done thisbefore and it's never changing.
Even if they had a sibling thatdid it, it might be different
(34:44):
than when their older brother orsister did it.
You just never.
I feel like you have a goodunderstanding of that.
But people have anunderstanding that how are they
supposed to know, To get movedaway from what they should know
that already?
Or they should read through it,read through everything.
I get it.
That's a great skill and that'samazing.
(35:05):
If it's written poorly, I'msorry, I'm not going to
understand what you're trying totell me.
So you know, give it on theskills, but give them the
support to help them out so thatthey feel more confident in
what they're doing, they'regoing to get there.
They'll figure it out on theirown, but they need that love and
support and understanding.
(35:25):
They've never done this before.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Right, right, why make things more complicated?
Why not simplify it?
And then also, in conjunctionwith what you're doing over the
summer you know a lot ofcolleges are starting to do this
and have done this, some havedone this for a long time is
reaching out to their first genstudents and saying you know,
welcome to the university.
And then here's someinformation you need, and being
(35:48):
very cautious about overwhelmingthem with emails at the same
time, which I think is the other, you know, sometimes the issue
of college it's like, you know,we're so excited to have you,
we're going to send you fiveemails a week for the next three
months before you get there,and that's just.
That's asking a lot.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
And cause is a lot of confusion.
I think too yeah, becausethey're like they're doing this
already.
Wait, I saw this one, this is arepeat.
And then some of them areautomatic, right, like even now
when they're seniors like makesure you send your transcripts.
I sent my transcript, I thoughtI did, because it's automatic,
like it was, we already did it,don't worry about it, you know
they're so, they're trying totake it very seriously.
(36:27):
And then they get confused.
They don't know.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Yeah, yeah.
So anything we can do to lowerthe confusion level, I think is
is a key.
Well, this has been fantasticto talk with you, denise.
I've I've learned a lot.
I love the college, career andfuture ready toolkit.
I am definitely going to lookat that and and I'm sure you are
too, as you're listening.
So, denise, where can they findyou if they either want to
(36:50):
follow up or they have aquestion about the toolkit?
Speaker 2 (36:53):
And so email Great, I can access it anytime.
Do I say it now or do we put it?
Speaker 1 (37:00):
I can put it in the show notes, but you can also
share it right now if you want.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Okay, so it's my first name Denise, so it's D E N
I S E dot the first part of mylast name.
So, EL dot have it so H A, b, a, c.
(37:24):
A, that's my district's acronym, so B U A S D dot org.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Dot org.
You said All right, great.
Yes, I will definitely put thatin the show notes and and the
link to the toolkit will be inthe show notes.
So if that's something that youwant to take a look at, uh, as
you know, steal it's not reallystealing because it's it's been
given to you, and if you want touse it in any way, uh, by all
means, take a look at that.
(37:56):
Uh, you can always find me atfirst gen FMcom or you can email
me at Jen at first gen FMcom.
That's Jen J E N at first genFMcom, and I'd love to hear from
you if you have any feedbackabout the podcast.
If you want to be a guest onthe podcast, I'd love to talk to
you too, and I'd love to haveyou great and review the podcast
(38:18):
, because that helps more peoplefind it who are working with
first gen students, whetherthey're in college, like I'm
working with, or their collegebound, like Denise is working
with Um.
We all want to create a web ofadvocates to best serve our
students.
So thank you so much forjoining me, denise.
I appreciated our conversation.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Appreciate the invite .
Anytime, I love to come back orfollow up and please, please,
please, reach out to anyone outthere that's listening.
Um, it's so much fun just toconnect with others and share
ideas.
Jen, really healthy kids yeah,absolutely, thank you.
Hi and welcome to First Gen FM, a podcast for
educators who want to learn moreabout serving, working with,
celebrating first generationcollege bound and college
students.
Thank you so much for listeningto this podcast.
Thank you, denise, who is myguest today.
(00:36):
Denise Elhabish is here and sheis from Yonker High School in
Buckeye, arizona, and she is agear up coach, so I'm really
excited to talk to someone whois in the high schools working
with first generation collegebound students about what
they're doing and how they'redoing it, and so we're going to
look at the college career andfuture ready toolkit.
(00:56):
We're going to talk aboutestablishing a college going
culture and Denise is going tobe our guide today, so welcome,
denise.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited just to talkabout probably my favorite topic
of all time.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure, but let's start with a
little bit of your story.
What was the spark that got youinto education and,
specifically, you know, wantingto work with first generation
college bound students?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I think people will be shocked to know that I was
super shy when I was younger inthe public education system and
I wasn't a great academicstudent, but one thing I really
did well was math and explainingit to others Well, so that was
my spark was I got so almost ina drunken rush of being able to
(01:46):
teach my peers or my friends howto do a math problem and they
were so excited that theyunderstood it, and then they
would send more people to me andI kept doing it again.
It was awesome and so that waskind of like kickstarted my path
to education and I taughthealth for a while is really
intrigued with the mental health, social, emotional side of it.
(02:10):
And so I got my degree incounseling and found my way to
Arizona.
Someone called me up and toldme about this position.
I'm like this sounds like adream job.
I can't wait.
Hopefully I get it.
I'm grateful that I'm here and,yeah, I got the position and
that's where I'm at now.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
That's awesome.
So do you do?
Do you still use your yourfinely honed math and math
teaching skills and yourcounseling sort of together in
this work that you're doing?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So I think the math is coming off.
It's a different now, but thestory behind it and letting kids
know you really have the powerto do whatever it is you want to
do.
You just got to make up yourmind that that's what you're
going to do and move forwardwith it.
And I share my story of how Istruggled.
It was not a great high schoolstudent, you know.
(02:58):
I didn't know what I was doing.
It felt very lost and notrealizing at the time.
I was also first generation andso, just like letting them know
, like human to human, like I,just my mind was made up to do
what I was going to do and Ijust went for it.
And so, yeah, the math has lostand that's like another
language, but the counselingskills and just the
(03:20):
understanding of thepost-secondary transition piece
of it is a huge part of what Ido.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, and that is a huge transition and I don't, I
don't think students givethemselves enough credit for,
for getting ready for and makingthat transition for sure, and
we might touch upon that alittle bit later.
So tell me about this what areyou called the college career
and future ready toolkit thatyou use?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So we had the opportunity to submit a proposal
to present at a conference andI've never done this before and
like, wow, this is exciting andnerve wracking when people don't
come, or what if they get upand leave, like we're like.
So we really startedbrainstorming with my crew so
there's more gear up, peoplethat I work with in the state of
(04:06):
Arizona and what would we wantto get out of a session.
And then we kind of startedfrom there and we created the
toolkit for people to use borrow, steal whatever idea they can,
as much as their heart desires,so they don't have to reinvent
the wheel, so not just hearingabout it, actually giving them
(04:26):
the tangibles.
So anything we createdpresentations, the worksheet,
flyers, all of that of our bestpractices, of where we really
saw success is all in thetoolkit that anyone can add
Access.
That's great.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
And what kind of conversations did you have about
what you would put in there andwhat is in there?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So we really started talking about at each site.
Right, we all been there, donethat, we all have the same goals
and we all do things a littlebit differently.
So we started talking about oursuperpower, right, like what
each campus has, if they'resuper out power, and then we all
put our two cents in and we'relike, okay, this is amazing.
So things like growing a college, going culture what does that
(05:14):
look like?
Increasing knowledge andexperience with the process,
with students and really gettingthem to understand what it
means for post-secondarytransition.
Increasing family engagement,getting parents on board we do a
big senior family night kickofffor the beginning of the school
(05:35):
year, so all the tools for thatas far as how we invite them,
how we promote what we send home, how we get the kids involved,
what we order for food and allthese other tips and tricks to
increase participation and thenthem walking away with.
What we're hoping for is theconnection between what we've
(05:58):
been telling their kids and whatthey can be doing to help at
home, kind of marry at thatpoint.
And so that's kind of thehighlight of the toolkit when we
get to the end is everythingthat we've done has laid the
foundation, and then, once weget to senior year, we kind of
piece everything together forthe action step.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, I love that.
I love bringing the families in, because there's such an
important support system thatsometimes get overlooked or
sometimes not looked at asallies as much as they should be
.
So I love that you bring themin kind of in the senior year
and say like, hey, look at allthis.
So now I have all thesequestions based on what you said
(06:39):
.
What do you find are some ofthe myths that students or myths
or misinformation, however youwant to think of it that
students are coming in withabout going to college?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I think two big ones.
One they think it's too hard,Like they can't do it.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I can't go to college , it's too hard.
I think the other one is that Ican't afford it.
And so we break that down withkids a lot and we're going to
talk about you as an individualin self-discovery and
understanding the potentialthat's out there, and why are
you limiting yourself and whereis that coming from and how do
(07:19):
we move past it and things likethat.
And we just let them know aboutyou.
Hear that it's hard work, it'sa transitional period, just like
leaving eighth grade to go intohigh school is a transitional
period.
But so we really help them getmore confident about the process
and that there's more ways toget from point A, which is
(07:41):
graduating high school, to pointB, which is their career.
I really feel like helps themfeel more empowered and less
intimidated.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, I'm just going to say too is that it's hard?
Is that about just theadmissions process, which,
granted, is hard because it'snot really all that transparent,
or is it about the work thatthey're going to have to do in
college to get to the careers?
Is it a combination of thosethings?
(08:11):
Or do you find students arejust so freaked out about
admissions that they're not eventhinking about what's next in
college?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I feel like for our students where they're at a lot
of that, yes, but not even theadmissions.
Once they do admissions, Iagree that it's not necessarily
intuitive, but when we're theredoing it with them and then it
happens, and then they getaccepted, they're very excited.
For me, where the barrierreally comes with the enrollment
process, I feel like all thosesteps that come in after the
(08:39):
application is so cumbersome andso intimidating for a kid,
where I think it's easy for themto throw their hands up and say
, okay, I'm done.
I don't get this, I don'tunderstand this terminology, I
don't know what they're askingme.
I did this already.
All those things come to mind.
And so we offer summercounseling.
Oh, fantastic.
(09:00):
Once they graduate, we set upappointments all summer to help
them with all that.
It is not intuitive.
I'm looking at this.
I'm like kid, I don't knoweither.
Let's call Right, right.
It doesn't make sense to me.
I don't get it either.
Let's figure it out together.
But I can see for a lot of kidsthey were doing it on their own
, especially if they don't haveanyone else, I've done it.
(09:22):
It falls by the wayside, butyeah.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, so are some of those things, maybe responding
for verification requests fromfinancial aid or and housing
information and probably like,oh, do you need insurance or
should you wave insurance?
Are those the kinds of thingsyou're talking about, that
they're working through?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yes, and it's some kids.
We have really goodopportunities here in Arizona
where kids can get free tuitionand fees and their campuses are
drivable, close, so they won'tlive on campus but they're
getting their four-year degreefor free.
So those kids, for example,there's a process to disconnect
(10:05):
or discontinue the housing.
Part of it is not intuitive atall.
Now they're getting billed forhousing and their amount of
living.
I thought Ari told them theywasn't.
So it's so fine Interest things.
That's all case by case andeveryone's in a different
scenario, connecting their FAFSA, like you said, verification,
or simply with our communitycolleges.
(10:26):
They don't even know.
The kids filled the FAFSA outlike mid year, their senior year
.
The community college won'tprocess it until June, sometime
in their class to start inAugust.
So they're panicking becausethey're getting billed Like
you're all right, don't pay it,we already have it covered.
It just takes a while just forthem to understand timelines and
all those fine pieces that arereally just nerve-racking for a
(10:51):
kid who's never done it before.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Right, right, and how would they know?
And that financial aid piece Ishake my head but I also have to
laugh.
I mean, it's just so backwards.
It's like we know you're goingto get financial aid, but we're
going to bill you, so firstwe're going to cause you to just
worry, and then suddenly thenwe're going to take the worry
away as we disperse yourscholarship.
(11:14):
It's like there must be a way tosay like let's not bill these
students yet because until weshow them that it's like zero or
a small balance in order, theremust be a way to change that
policy.
Although, knowing what we knownow about when the FAFSA is
going to come out and when thecolleges are going to get that
information, this is probablynot the year maybe to change all
that.
(11:35):
So if anybody so if anybody'slistening hasn't heard, the
FAFSA is not going to beavailable now to December 31st,
but they're going to be delayedprocessing the information to
the colleges.
So the colleges are probablygoing not going to get anything
until the end of January.
So that's just going to delayeverybody from getting their
package, especially any earlyaction and early decision folks.
(11:57):
So kind of another hurdle.
And for first gen studentsfiguring that out and is it me?
Is it something I did?
Is it something I didn't do?
I'm so glad they have you,denise, and people like you to
sit down with them through that,especially in the summer,
because I think when schoolcounselors leave, when school
gets out and they're not reallyin college yet orientation
(12:19):
hasn't started.
They don't have any connectionto the university they're going
to yet, and their high school isout of session, so they're just
like having to do things ontheir own.
So what you're doing isphenomenal, thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Thank you.
So rewarding, so rewarding, butit's a little stressful.
I feel like I should try to.
I think about all the kids thatdon't come in or that I reach
out to, that don't respond, andit's like I think they're OK,
I'm hoping they're OK and I'mlooking at some of this and I
want to know what to do.
I was on my own, so hopefullythat comes more and more part of
(12:54):
our college going process, asI'm knowing we're here all
summer Like come on in, the dooris open.
We'll have a snack coming out,yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah, We'll have a snack and we have air
conditioning.
I imagine you say that a lottoo, right, being in Arizona.
So it's interesting.
You talk about a college readyand you talk about career and
future ready.
So are there different parts ofit where you don't necessarily
skip the college part, but maybesome students we know not all
(13:25):
students go to college, but youtalk about the career and
futures.
And what does that look likefor your program and your
toolkit?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
I feel like we have a spoiled set up in a way,
because we are grateful to havea class, and this spirals from
the Gear Up Grant that's calledFuture Ready.
It's required for all of ourjuniors to take as an elective
and we're able to slide that inbecause we're on a block
(13:54):
schedule.
We don't have a traditional sixhour or six class 55 minute
class periods.
We have four classes a semester.
They're 90 minutes long.
And so it's allowed to have moreflexibility with CTE programs
and completers and things likethat, and so the Future Ready
classes built at that time, andso we laid a foundation with 9th
(14:18):
and 10th grade.
We do presentations, we invitethem to workshops or field trips
and things like that, and thenwe get to Future Ready and it's
all about them, since we're downright from the get go.
It's all about self discoveryand exploration and really
taking the time to learn what'sout there, because we're
honestly ignorant.
There's so much out there forevery kid.
(14:39):
That is just like that.
Don't feel like you have to fityourself in the typical.
I want to be in business, Iwant to be in medical Like
that's great if that's what youwant to do.
But let's really be morespecific.
Like what about it?
Do you really want to do?
I'm not sure.
Okay, let's get after it.
So we start right away withpersonality assessments and
(15:00):
career assessments that reallybring it down, not just with
pathway, but like specificcareers that they would do well.
That based off their personalityand their skill set and their
academics.
Then we either set up jobshadowing opportunity so they
can see and learn what it's like, or a very popular one just a
(15:21):
little bit easier to manage isphone calls.
We have a huge directory thatwe collected over the years so
that kids have access.
Oh, this is Barbara.
I want to be a Barbara.
All right, call three differentbarbers.
These are the questions you canask them.
You can ask them your ownquestions too, but if you're
stuck or you get nervous, youdon't know what to say, and this
is what will help you reallylearn what the job is like.
(15:43):
These are questions that youcan ask, and so it's an
assignment that they work on toreally learn.
Is this really what I want todo or is it not?
Either way that's successful tome.
Then we jump in as gear upcoaches and we present a lot, do
workshops, a lot on pathways.
How do I become a barber?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
There's more than one way to become a barber?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
How do I get into nursing there's more than one
way to do that and reallydetailing their plan.
Then we tell them pick two andgo after both of those plans as
if you're your plan A.
You're opening up the door forsuccess when you do that and
opportunity and you go throughthe process and then we see what
happens.
(16:25):
I feel like really gives themthat sense of security and
confidence to move forward withthe action steps when they
become a senior.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah, I love that.
Have a plan A, have a plan B,maybe even a plan C or D, and
keep your options open until youhave to make that decision and
continue to collect moreinformation as you're going
through.
I also love that you give themsome questions.
If they're a student who'seither particularly shy or just
(16:53):
doesn't even know where to start, they're like oh, I have some
questions I can ask to get megoing.
My guess is the people whosigned up to take the phone
calls from the students aregoing to warm up and help those
students, just come into theirown and then start to ask the
questions that they really have.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah, they just wrote about it.
It's super cute, Like we hear.
Well, the kids record it sothat we can help them.
Do you know what they weresaying there?
What did you think about thisand whatever.
It really gets them excitedabout the process and they're
not so intimidated.
It's nerve-wracking.
I told them I was a kid as ajunior.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I wouldn't be doing that.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
We give them a lot of encouragement and empowerment
from it.
I was like look what you justdid.
Now you know, now you haveconnections.
You haven't started yet andyou're already making
connections.
You're 16 years old, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
That networking piece and that I mean it's really
that willingness to ask for help, to go out there and say I
don't have the answers to this,I'm going to reach out to
someone.
Even though you've said it allup, they have to do it and I
think that, whether they go intoa career or whether they go to
college, having that experienceof oh yeah, I just called this
(18:11):
person, I can do that now incollege, I can ask for help, I
can reach out to people.
I love that.
That's such a wonderful program.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Okay, thank you.
Yeah, we're super lucky.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, was there anything when you were putting
it together that you were justlike, oh my gosh, like I hadn't
thought of this and maybesomebody else had?
This is such a good idea andI'm going to do it all the time
now.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I think with the parent engagement piece really
involving students in theprocess.
We went to one of the gear upconferences.
We went to a session that talkedabout increasing parent
engagement.
Now impactful it is to havestudents film and then inviting
(18:57):
their parents to come.
I had a video of my kidinviting me to something.
I could have thought it was thesilliest thing in the world.
I was like, yes, kid, I'm goingto go, I'll go to your
elementary school, applejuiceFighter, whatever.
Because they invited me, Ipulled out your heartstrings and
so really having kids or theaftermath.
(19:20):
We started our senior familynights, a very now built and I
feel like, to our school culturedeal.
Having the people that wentthrough it already, videotaping
them and inviting the people tocome to the following year one
and what they got out of it andwhy they thought was so
successful for them, personally,I feel like really helped us.
(19:43):
Then doing as much as we can inthe languages that people speak
other than English.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
We have a high Spanish population.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Even if they do speak English.
They are more comfortable withSpanish Studying home, not just
like the verbiage, but thevideos.
We had seniors who graduatedspeaking in Spanish with a QR
code.
It's scanned to a YouTube videoon the postcard when we mailed
it home Like please come tosenior family night, that's all
(20:14):
in Spanish.
Then scan this and then they'retalking more about it and get
really increased.
Then our population of Spanishspeaking families and we hosted
their own Spanish speakingsession.
Then it feel like they weresitting there in the dark not
knowing what was going on.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Right, or then the student has to be there too to
translate while someone speaking.
Yeah, I love all these things.
Clearly they all roll intocreating a college going culture
.
What have you found to besuccessful at Yonker, or most
successful, or how long have youbeen doing this, even at Yonker
(20:53):
, to get the college goingculture?
Have you seen changes?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
So your grant is unique in a way.
The first year the coaches arenot even involved at all.
I wasn't even involved in theprocess at all of creating the
future ready class, not the ideathat they had.
So year two was actually myfirst year working with the
grant with COVID.
So that was a unique again initself.
(21:18):
So year three, which was mysecond year, was my first time
really on campus.
Throughout an entire year Ijust realized visibility and
consistency.
I really has springboarded Likethis natural off, like our
(21:39):
tongue, like we talked about.
We have a senior law in skythat kids get Right and so they
document all of their thingsthat they're doing, their
college application stuff, theirfast but things If it is a
trade school and whatevermilitary, whatever it is they
want to do.
We're documenting the stepswith them and their timelines
and it's just like common naturethat we always ask them do you
(22:01):
have?
your lunch guide.
Oh yeah, yeah, it's just partof their day now.
Anytime they meet with us, theyhave their lunch guide with
them.
When we talk about fast, well,we always compare to the year
before.
So we're on the announcementsall the time.
This is where we are this week.
We're trying to beat the classfrom last year and it's just a
common thing.
A lot of juniors come in tohave a half-utu ready.
(22:23):
Yet Can I do my fast stuff?
Not yet.
Kiddos next year, but you know.
And then same thing with seniorfamily night.
We promote it, we talk about it, we have signs everywhere.
It's on the marquee, and soeven the younger grade, they are
expecting this is their fatebecause they're hearing about it
all the time.
We have a lot of juniorsvolunteer to help out at senior
(22:44):
family night, passing out thefolders, escorting families from
their car or where they'resupposed to be in what session,
so they can see it.
And we tell them this is younext year.
Like your turn, you'll haveyour turn next year and all
these things.
And so it's just really aboutbeing visible consistency.
I feel like our PAannouncements are huge for us
(23:04):
because it's part of our culturethat we're quiet At that time
you're listening.
They're important informationand the word just gets out about
what we're doing.
And now it's just how it isyeah.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Again love the system of involving the juniors in the
senior night so they can seeeverything that's going on.
So when they get there it's notnew to them or a surprise.
They're waiting for thatopportunity, and the fact that
you have somebody come in andsay, can I fill out the FAFSA
early Like that, should give youlike bonus points and gold
stars and all kinds of things.
(23:38):
I mean that's really amazing,because I'm sure there's not too
many people who are excitedabout filling out the FAFSA.
I was gonna ask you a questionabout the college going culture
piece, so what I wanted to knowis how do you then celebrate and
show that, hey, these studentsare going to college and or
(24:03):
these students are gettingscholarships to go to college
and it's paid for, to kind ofcounter some of those myths that
we talked about earlier.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
So we celebrate our seniors is another thing they
feel like they now know is athing because we've been doing
it consistently.
Every year we celebratedecision day in May.
We have a huge banner thatevery single senior gets to sign
off of.
They're the class of now coming2024.
And they do.
(24:35):
It's a big red carpet event outin our quad where everybody can
see we get lunch for them on us.
They sign in, they pick uptheir signs for whatever schools
they committed to going to orpass Like whatever it is they
committed to.
They have a sign waiting forthere for them.
(24:55):
So then they go down the redcarpet, we take their photo
paparazzi and they celebrate andthey come and sign the banner
and then they grab their lunchand they're all celebrating
together.
So that happened during.
We have two lunches, so bothlunches.
So again, the underclassmen cansee how we're celebrating these
(25:15):
kids with their journey andtheir path, regardless of what
path they are and regardless ifthey got scholarships or not.
We invite parents.
Last year was the first year weinvited parents to come.
I'm really surprised how manykids brought their parents.
It was super cute.
I was like gosh, you guysaren't too cool for school.
I love that.
So we're gonna do that againand promote it even better than
the first time.
(25:36):
We were a little weary.
We were like I don't know ifkids are gonna want their
parents to come or parents cancome because of work, and so
like that was unfair judgment.
We should have done that.
Next year We'll make sure weadvertise it better.
But as far as the scholarshipsagain a lot of it we're so
grateful to have that futureready class and that we go into
the younger grades, like ninthgrade, 10th grade we let
(25:58):
teachers know we love to comepresent.
Let us know if you're having tostop that day right to make
their life easier, we'll come inand present or if there's any
time that works in your schedulefor us to come in and we
showcase our own kids that havereceived those scholarships.
So this is a real living,breathing Yonker High School
(26:21):
student that just got this bigtime scholarship and this kid is
no different than any other kidin this room and then we're
like we always go back totrusting the process.
That's like instilled in theirbrain trust the process, go
through the steps and then seewhat happens.
We can't guarantee you're gonnaget it, but we can guarantee
you won't get it.
I love what you said.
I've been using that a lot.
(26:42):
If you don't apply right and soyou're in the same boat you're
already in and again it's giventhat courage and confidence and
support.
It will help you along thewhole way.
But let's just see what happensand then that's it, and so
that's a big piece of it.
It showcased all of our campus,like we have monitors
everywhere, we use Canva a lotand so you know their face and
(27:05):
the scholarship is like beingrun through, like they see it
all the time and they're like Ihad that kid in my culinary
class right.
Like they do that, we also dothe workshop.
They keep using that wordbecause it's designed for kids
to sign themselves up, or, likewe target kids, to personally
(27:27):
invite them to them as well.
But we also have the chance tomake the decision of what
workshop they wanna come to,kind of like we do when we go to
a conference right.
Like pick our own professionaldevelopment and so we'll have
alumni.
I can't wait.
We have a university sessioncoming on Wednesday before
Thanksgiving, and so they're off, so they are gonna come back
(27:50):
and talk about their life as acollege student Like a first
year college student.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
And then we'll have so we're talking to juniors, so
they're gonna come andco-present with me, and then we
have the seniors that areactually at our school right now
gonna come co-present also.
So they're gonna talk abouttheir experience, about applying
, getting ready for the FAS,going after these scholarships.
Some of them are doing thehonors college, some of them
(28:17):
have already done both.
They are taking advantage oftwo plans.
So they did the universityapplications, they already did
their community collegeapplication and going through
the process of that.
And then the college studenttalking about their first year.
And it's just, it's magical,it's so fun Because one the
juniors chose to be there.
So they wanna learn right.
Then you got the seniors in themix of it, Like this is your
(28:40):
fate in a year, right.
And then you got the collegekids and like, oh my gosh,
they're super star all of asudden right in their eyes, like
this kid, and they're alltalking and it's almost I don't
even really have to present.
It's almost like this.
It's this kind of opendiscussion and them learning and
taking notes and sharing, andit's super cool.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, the synergy of all of them together.
And we know from experiencethat students really listen to
other students and so, even ifwe've said it to them five times
, if a student says it, orsomeone who's in their position
a year ahead says it, they'relike oh, that's such a good idea
.
And you're sitting there sayingbut I've been saying that.
But they're.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
What do I call it?
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, no, that's such a good idea.
So, as we kind of wrap up like,what advice do you give to a
listener who is working withcollege-bound students, who's
trying to get a college goingculture, what kind of advice
would you give them?
Speaker 2 (29:42):
I'll go back to that.
Visibility and consistency.
It's the buzzwords and just gofor it.
I hear some people I'm worried,I'm going to host this and no
one's going to come.
I had that same fear too.
And you just build off of it.
You just keep trying, you justkeep going after it, you just
keep doing it and eventually itevolves into something that is
(30:04):
just part of your years.
We're doing it.
That's just it, Really justfinding your priorities and just
giving yourself 100% into it.
Then see what happens andeverything's success.
Five people, 10 people, 50,whatever it is the word of mouth
starts getting out there.
You keep doing it all the time.
(30:25):
Eventually it's going to getthere where you're going to see
the success.
But I think there is a myth thatparents are too busy or they
don't know or they don't care.
We've seen that that's not true.
They're eager and they'reexcited and they need the
confidence and the empowermenttoo to really help their student
(30:49):
.
You'll be surprised the turnout, but also advertising the way
that's going to appeal to them.
Sorry, I'm cutting in and out alittle bit.
I noticed I'm not screened.
Can you hear me okay?
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, the sound has been great, so you're good there
.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Okay, I'll keep going .
So, for I always keep goingback to the senior family night.
But we bring in our cap andgown company.
We talk about graduation, theprocess of graduation.
We have such a goodrelationship with our cap and
gown company.
Now they offer free cap andgowns and so there'll be a
drawing if they come that night.
(31:28):
Things like that that reallyhelp get the parents excited
about the process and senioryear and not just the
post-secondary stuff, becausethat's the stuff that makes them
nervous or they're scared orthey're intimidated by and even
though that's a highlight for us, it's not necessarily a
highlight for them until you getthem there and then they go
(31:49):
through the night.
But we really stress a lotabout the fun that comes of
being a senior prom and otherthings that we talk about.
I'm trying to blink a little bit.
Like all those things like oh,they're homecoming week and
senior powder puff, and like sowe lay out all the events that
(32:09):
are important to the senior andfor a lot of the families that
are important to them, and thenwe get into now what's next?
How can we help you?
This is what we've done already.
This is where we're at and weeven transformed with our
culture.
Like at first, we gave themeverything like here's the
system we wanted you to knoweverything that's in our brain
(32:31):
and now, with the help of future, ready and just establishing
the culture and laying down thefoundation, they get to senior
year.
I already know what my plan is.
I already know what my plan Bis.
Okay, now what's next?
So, just like what we do withthe workshops with our own kids,
we allow the parents to pickand the families Like what
session do you want to go to?
Do you want to go to theuniversity session?
(32:53):
Do you want to go to thecommunity college session, the
trade cool session, the tradeand teching military session?
Like, what session do you andyour family want to go to?
Now that you know what you wantto do, what's next?
What does it look like when youapply to the college and you've
been admitted?
What does it look like to getafter their scholarship portal?
(33:14):
Now, the fastest changing theseare the changes with the FAFSA,
all those things, and so it'sreally cool how it started and
where it became, and it's justgoing forward.
I guess it's.
My best advice is don't beafraid to go after it and
utilize your resources.
I'll be more than happy toshare anything from our toolkit
(33:36):
for any of our listeners outthere that are interested.
We'll send you all the info andcoordinate and you don't have to
reinvent the wheel.
It's too hard.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yes, so you'll give me a link that I can put in the
show notes so that if anybodywants to see that.
Oh, that's.
Thank you so much, denise.
That's fantastic.
My next question, though, isfor the folks like me who are in
the college, who are listeningwhat should we know about the
students that you're sending us?
Speaker 2 (34:03):
They are very excited and eager, but they still don't
know.
They don't know.
I get this almost irritatedtick when I hear, oh, they
should know how to do thatalready.
I'm like, are you kidding me?
You try it.
I'm not going to tell you howold I am Way older than these
(34:24):
kids and I'm looking at this andI'm like, gosh, I don't even
know what they're asking.
And so to know that they want tobe able to do these things and
they want to be independent andthey are, but they've never done
it before.
They have never done thisbefore and it's never changing.
Even if they had a sibling thatdid it, it might be different
(34:44):
than when their older brother orsister did it.
You just never.
I feel like you have a goodunderstanding of that.
But people have anunderstanding that how are they
supposed to know, To get movedaway from what they should know
that already?
Or they should read through it,read through everything.
I get it.
That's a great skill and that'samazing.
(35:05):
If it's written poorly, I'msorry, I'm not going to
understand what you're trying totell me.
So you know, give it on theskills, but give them the
support to help them out so thatthey feel more confident in
what they're doing, they'regoing to get there.
They'll figure it out on theirown, but they need that love and
support and understanding.
(35:25):
They've never done this before.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Right, right, why make things more complicated?
Why not simplify it?
And then also, in conjunctionwith what you're doing over the
summer you know a lot ofcolleges are starting to do this
and have done this, some havedone this for a long time is
reaching out to their first genstudents and saying you know,
welcome to the university.
And then here's someinformation you need, and being
(35:48):
very cautious about overwhelmingthem with emails at the same
time, which I think is the other, you know, sometimes the issue
of college it's like, you know,we're so excited to have you,
we're going to send you fiveemails a week for the next three
months before you get there,and that's just.
That's asking a lot.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
And cause is a lot of confusion.
I think too yeah, becausethey're like they're doing this
already.
Wait, I saw this one, this is arepeat.
And then some of them areautomatic, right, like even now
when they're seniors like makesure you send your transcripts.
I sent my transcript, I thoughtI did, because it's automatic,
like it was, we already did it,don't worry about it, you know
they're so, they're trying totake it very seriously.
(36:27):
And then they get confused.
They don't know.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Yeah, yeah.
So anything we can do to lowerthe confusion level, I think is
is a key.
Well, this has been fantasticto talk with you, denise.
I've I've learned a lot.
I love the college, career andfuture ready toolkit.
I am definitely going to lookat that and and I'm sure you are
too, as you're listening.
So, denise, where can they findyou if they either want to
(36:50):
follow up or they have aquestion about the toolkit?
Speaker 2 (36:53):
And so email Great, I can access it anytime.
Do I say it now or do we put it?
Speaker 1 (37:00):
I can put it in the show notes, but you can also
share it right now if you want.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Okay, so it's my first name Denise, so it's D E N
I S E dot the first part of mylast name.
So, EL dot have it so H A, b, a, c.
(37:24):
A, that's my district's acronym, so B U A S D dot org.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Dot org.
You said All right, great.
Yes, I will definitely put thatin the show notes and and the
link to the toolkit will be inthe show notes.
So if that's something that youwant to take a look at, uh, as
you know, steal it's not reallystealing because it's it's been
given to you, and if you want touse it in any way, uh, by all
means, take a look at that.
(37:56):
Uh, you can always find me atfirst gen FMcom or you can email
me at Jen at first gen FMcom.
That's Jen J E N at first genFMcom, and I'd love to hear from
you if you have any feedbackabout the podcast.
If you want to be a guest onthe podcast, I'd love to talk to
you too, and I'd love to haveyou great and review the podcast
(38:18):
, because that helps more peoplefind it who are working with
first gen students, whetherthey're in college, like I'm
working with, or their collegebound, like Denise is working
with Um.
We all want to create a web ofadvocates to best serve our
students.
So thank you so much forjoining me, denise.
I appreciated our conversation.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Appreciate the invite .
Anytime, I love to come back orfollow up and please, please,
please, reach out to anyone outthere that's listening.
Um, it's so much fun just toconnect with others and share
ideas.
Jen, really healthy kids yeah,absolutely, thank you.
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