Peer Leaders

Southern California 2009 Peer Leader of the Year

Arleta HS Peer Leader Josue Cruz is presented with the Southern California 2009 Peer Leader of the Year award by College Summit Founder, J.B. Schramm.

As the President of Arleta High School's 2008-09 Peer Leader group, Josue Cruz holds many responsibilities including helping to coordinate school-wide college going activities, acting as liason between the senior class and Arleta administration, and initiating the outstanding college going culture that is so obvious when you walk through the Arleta hallways.

As Josue's college counselor, Beth Winningham explains, he goes above and beyond his typical duties, "Josue has his eyes and ears open for how the [College Summit] curriculum is being implemented in the classrooms...He has attended every activity we have held and never fails to give us his time and energy."

This year, Josue and his Peer Leader team held several events to motivate their peers to apply to college, including: a Personal Statement Competition to encourage all seniors to complete their statements on time; a College Application Week in which they opened all of the school computer labs so seniors could complete college applications; a College Fair attended by over 100 college representatives; and a Parent Institute in which they helped to educate the parents of 9-12 graders on the different elements of the college application process, including financial aid.

To no surprise, the next Arleta Peer Leader President has quite the shoes to fill, "In terms of student leadership, Josue demonstrates the best qualities imaginable: enthusiasm, passion, commitment, generosity, and creativity," said Mrs. Winningham.

Alumni

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Alumni Profile

Daniel Garcia, Huntington Park High School, Class of 2007

Until the summer before Daniel Garcia’s senior year, high school was simply a fun way to socialize with his friends and peers. As Huntington Park High School’s Winter Formal King, Daniel was not focused on school. He knew the next step after high school was college, but he was in no rush to get there—much less prepare for life after graduation. In Daniel’s mind, he had until the last month of his senior year to figure it out, “I always knew I wanted to get into a Cal State or University…but nobody gave me the right tools to do it.”

During the end of his junior year right before summer began, Daniel’s history teacher approached him about a program called College Summit. After learning more about the program by speaking with alumni, Daniel and 150 of his peers decided to apply. Out of 150 students that applied to the program, there was room for 50 students that would be able to participate in College Summit at Huntington Park; and of those 50, only ten would be chosen to attend a College Summit workshop at California Lutheran University that summer. Daniel was one of those ten, called “Peer Leaders”.

“Not knowing what to expect, I thought it was going to be all work…but it was totally different than what I expected. I had never seen somebody [workshop staff and volunteers] be so passionate about their work and helping people that they had never met in their life,” recalls Daniel.

Daniel was “transformed” at his workshop from a student whom college was about to be out of reach for, to a student equipped with the tools to graduate from high school and achieve a higher education.

During his senior year, Daniel and his fellow Peer Leaders helped their fellow classmates to achieve the five College Summit goals: fill out a college application, learn about financial aid, write a personal statement, talk to a college counselor, and most important—become a peer leader.

“I always knew that if I put my mind to something I could do it; but I never put my mind to anything. After the workshop, I put my mind to graduating. I graduated and now am in college,” says Daniel.

After Daniel’s first year college he decided to come back to College Summit as an Alumni Leader, working in the summer workshops with the Peer Leaders and encouraging them through the same process that transformed him. As an alumnus of the program Daniel explains, “My goal is to impact the Peer Leader’s lives the way that mine was.”

Daniel currently attends East Los Angeles College and is working to obtain his teaching degree so that he can be a History teacher at Huntington Park High School and bring College Summit back into the school. During the 2009 Workshop Season, Daniel served as Alumni Leader Coordinator, overseeing the Southern California Alumni Leaders.