The University of Arizona’s College Academy for Parents received $50,000 to add a new high school division to their program.
UA’s College Academy for Parents is a program of free workshops that teach parents and students the ins and outs of college. The program consists of weekly two-hour workshops, offered in English and Spanish. The English and Spanish workshops meet at the same time, but in different rooms. The workshops focus on the benefits of college and teach the students and parents how to tackle financial aid and about the different types of degrees and programs offered.
“The hope is that by providing information to parents and not just giving the information, but bringing parents together to share experiences and goals, it shows them that they’re not alone,” said Patrick Bryan, coordinator for the College Academy for Parents.
The new high school division of the program will start the first week of November and run for four weeks. After the four workshops, students and parents will visit the UA campus on Dec. 12.
Excelencia in Education, a group based in Washington, D.C, awarded the grant to start the high school division. Wal-Mart provided the money for the grant to Excelencia in Education through their program Seeding Educational Models that Impact and Leverage Latino Academic Success (SEMILLAS) grant.
This is the first year the grant has been offered.
“We are hoping to be able to secure financial support to be able to continue awarding this grant in the years to come,” said Michelle Rivera, Excelencia in Education e-communications manager.
Rivera also said she hopes this grant and future programs “will bring focus on the need to support the higher educational achievement of Latino and all students.”
Bryan said in case the program does not receive grant money in the future, they are hoping to get the workshop material online so it will be available as a resource in the future. He does not think the information will be up in the spring.
The eight high schools participating are Amphi, Cholla, Desert View, Flowing Wells, Pueblo, Rincon, Sunnyside and Tucson High. The classes are taught throughout the district at each high school. The program will accept 50 families from each high school. To be eligible students must be in 10th grade.
This will be the seventh year the College Academy for Parents has had an elementary and middle school division. For elementary and middle school workshops childcare is available for free. Children are taught the same information as their parents, but with games. The elementary and middle school workshops last 12 weeks.
For the UA’s College Academy for Parents application go to http://eao.arizona.edu/cap. To have an application mailed, call the College Academy for Parent’s office at 626-2300.
