SHPE - Fall 2007 - (Page 46) LOCAL HERO Technical Crisis Task Force, has been watching the academy grow over the years and sees its format as a tremendous breeding ground for future engineers. “The students are doing great, they are getting scholarships to go to college and they are going into engineering and science programs,” he said. “It’s one of those programs that, as a task force, we recognize because it offers the type of solutions that we need to implement in every single high school. It offers yearround mentoring, where students get paired up with community mentors that help them to prepare for competitions such as solar boat races, academic Olympiads, [and] viva technology competitions that occur throughout the year.” Santos said that while some students can sustain interest through academics alone, others thrive doing projects and participating in competitions. “We do a bunch of different competitions because you never know what’s going to grab a kid,” he explained. “We provide them with opportunities to do what works for them, what’s going to get them turned on about school.” Santos delights in sharing student success stories. He talked about Edenilson Gomez, a former student who recently completed his first year at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. While at Manual Arts, he did not know what he wanted to do with his life. Then, in 10th grade, he got involved in building bridges out of balsa wood and discovered that he lacked the reading skills to comprehend the books about bridge building. “With the help of one of our English teachers, in one year he improved his reading level by eight grades,” Santos said. “He took it upon himself to do that because that’s what he wanted to do. Now he’s at Cal Poly Pomona, a member of SHPE and he’s really successful.” Gomez described Santos as a man “with heart for people who want to get into school,” and he’s adopted a similar heart condition. While part of the ISTA Program, he was part of a group of students that traveled to San Jose and motivated other students to improve their grades and participate in competitions. “That really felt good to me because I was motivating others the way I had been motivated,” Gomez said. As the first in his family to attend college, Gomez admits that he underestimated the college experience. “It’s not all work and reading,” he 46 cation Santos displays. “He is dedicated to the program to the point where I wonder if he ever takes time off for himself,” he said. “He is a highly dedicated teacher and works very hard on finding additional resources and support.” The corporate and college partnerships and various grants that Santos and his colleagues have worked hard to obtain allow the academy to have a bit more autonomy within the school. There are also some extraordinary opportunities for the highly motivated. Students who do particularly well in school may be invited to attend the SHPE Conference or conferences for other professional groups. Also, any student that for all four years belongs to ISTA and Math Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA), for which Santos is also an advisor, and who gets accepted into the University of Southern California under the regular channels, qualifies for a full scholarship. Lupejkis describes Santos as “a mover and a shaker” who opens doors for Los Angeles’ under-served African-American and Latino students. “There really is a sense of family, a sense of service to each other and a sense of service to the community,” he said. Amazingly, Santos’ work has not been limited to his extraordinary achievement at Manual Arts. At California State University, Los Angeles, he spearheaded “2+4+C,” a college early entry program, enabling inner city high school students to fully participate in and receive credit for college graphic design courses. He also lectures at the university and volunteers as a facilitator to graduate technology students. Another of his projects is “Viva Technology,” nationally renowned for educating and motivating K-12 students to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “You do it and you just know you’ve got to do more,” Santos said. “We’ve got to start earlier. It’s not just focusing on the student, it’s focusing on the team concept and creating a value chain from 4th grade to 20th grade because we need to get some of these kids to become Ph.Ds and it’s going to happen. There’s such energy, and you can see that passion. One thing about Latinos is that we have this passion, and if we use that passion to our advantage, we can do anything. I’m really excited about it. I know good things are ahead for us.” I SHPE R Fall 2007 With the aid of mentors from SHPE, MAES, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, ISTA students assemble their robot for the FIRST Robotics Competition. said. “You also have other fun things like projects, labs and networking with other students. I’m actually really enjoying myself.” This fall, another of Santos’s students, Reynaldo Castellanos, will be entering California State University, Los Angeles, to study computer science. His turning point came during his 10th grade year when he dropped out of school for a while. “He met a mentor from Raytheon who helped him with his homework and helped him study for a test in his math class and for the first time he got a B,” Santos said. “It was the first B he’d ever gotten in that class. It just changed him, gave him the confidence to take on math and now he’s going to Cal State LA to study computer science!” SHPE’s Suarez calls Santos “the light at the end of the tunnel.” “We have been following him since he started in 1997,” he said, “but now we realize that he has the right approach to this problem. Getting the word out about what he’s doing is probably one of the most important things we can do. Our focus is to replicate his efforts not only throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District, but nationwide. We have to establish similar types of programs.” William Lupejkis, vice principal at Manual Arts, is amazed at the level of dedi-
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