July 2015 Off to College & So Can You Español/Spanish Last month we celebrated the commencement of nearly 1800 students who are now graduates of our schools in West Contra Costa Unified. Just before they graduate, we ask students what s next for them as part of a senior survey and we received responses from nearly all of them. The class of 2015 finished their K-12 experience at 12 schools including, DeAnza, El Cerrito, Gateway, Gompers, Hercules, Kennedy, Middle College, North Campus, Pinole Valley, Richmond, Transition and Vista. What s next for the overwhelming majority (80%) of the class of 2015 is some kind of post-secondary education including four year and two year colleges, apprenticeships, trade schools, technical schools. Others are heading for the military or straight off to work. The chart that follows shows the general categories and numbers what s next for the class of 2015. Post Secondary Plans Class of 2015 Number Percent Apprenticeship/Business/Technical/ Trade 62 4% California State University 278 16% Community College 716 41% Military 52 3% No Response/ Unknown /No plans 354 20% Out-of-State 2 or 4 year college 93 5% Private CA College/ University 24 1% University of California 178 10% Of the students heading off to four-year colleges, 25 are going to highly selective schools whose students come from the upper 10% of their high school classes and have SAT scores that average higher than 2000. What makes these schools so selective is that they admit fewer than 30% of their applicants. Class of 2015 grads are going to Brown, Bryn Mawr, University of Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, Claremont McKenna, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Macalester, Middlebury, New York University, Rice, Spelman, Stanford and Whitman. Another 178 students from the class of 2015 is heading for one of the University of California campuses. Three of the those schools are also considered to be highly selective colleges including UC Berkeley where 48 of our grads will attend, UC Davis
with another 51 and UCLA with 13 more. WCCUSD grads will attend all ten of the UC campuses. Also from the class of 2015, 278 students are attending 22 of the California State University campuses in the fall of this year. For the first time in recent years, San Francisco State is the most popular of the CSU campuses with 62 heading across the bay for college. Cal State East Bay, Sacramento State and San Jose State are the next on the list with 41, 36 and 30 respectively. It s no surprise that Contra Costa College is choice for the most graduates again this year with 386. Diablo Valley College is next with 120 and Berkeley City follows with 105 enrollees among our graduates. While the success of the class of 2015 is impressive, we have a big challenge ahead in ensuring that all our students graduate on time and are prepared for college and career. Our recently adopted Local Control Accountability Plan summarizes many of the strategies and actions that we re pursuing to make sure that all students graduate and are prepared for post-secondary education. One new communication campaign that we ll be launching in the fall around our annual College Day (October 14) is one in which we show off the accomplishment of the class of 2015 in inspiring our students to believe that they are bound for college as well. We re calling it So Can You and intend to show pictures of the students who graduated in 2015 with their college sweatshirts along with the schools they attended in WCCUSD. Below is a sample of some of the class of 2015 that I believe sends a strong message to other students they, too, can go to college. Bruce Harter Superintendent Kordia Addy Ohlone Elem Hercules Middle Hercules High Grad 2015 Saint Mary s College Ra Trail Armstead King Elem DeJean Middle Kennedy Grad 2015 Chico State Abdul Black El Cerrito 2015 Grad Tuskegee University
Michelle Croda Sheldon Elem De Anza High 2015 Grad Yale University Mayloni Despanie Tara Hills Elem Pinole Middle Gompers High Grad 2015 Contra Costa College Saron Gebraslassie Moved from Ethiopia DeAnza Grad 2015 Cal State Los Angeles Antonio Gonzalez Downer Elem Helms Middle Richmond Grad 2015 UC Davis Milagra Hernandez Grant Elem Manzanita Middle Middle College Grad 2015 UC Santa Cruz Andrew Johnson Ohlone Elem Hercules Middle Hercules High Grad 2015 Cal Poly
Maria Llose Wilson Elem DeJean Middle Kennedy Grad 2015 UCLA Ursula Lochner-Bravo Kensington Elem Portola Middle El Cerrito 2015 Grad New York University Kevin Mendoza Hanna Ranch Elem Hercules Middle Hercules High Grad 2015 Cornell University Bryan Moran Stewart K-8 Pinole Valley Grad 2015 Georgetown University Luis Perez Nystrom Elem DeJean Middle Kennedy Grad 2015 Cal Berkeley Jireh Quiom Lake Elem Helms Middle Sacramento State
Amante Reyes-Nepumuceno Collins Elem Pinole Middle North Campus Grad 2015 Contra Costa College Justin Rodriquez Ford Elem El Cerrito 2015 Grad Claremont McKenna College Eric Silva Lake Elem Helms Middle Richmond Grad 2015 San Jose State Amrinder Singh Valley View Elem Middle College Grad 2015 Cal Berkeley Daniel Solis Sheldon Elem De Anza High 2015 Grad Brown University Samantha Sze Stewart K-8 Pinole Valley Grad 2015 UC San Diego
Liliana Tamayo Alfara Bayview Elem North Campus Grad 2015 Contra Costa College Maria Zavala Grant Elem Middle College Grad 2015 UC Davis Jun Zhou Highland Elem Pinole Middle Pinole Valley Grad 2015 Cal Berkeley