Sitting on the grass outside the college center on Jefferson's campus I found two students who are determined to leave South Los Angeles.
Tanya and Ray are seniors who have taken honors classes since starting at Jefferson four years ago. With college as the main goal for years, the students are making their dreams a reality.
“My honors classes are supposed to be college level, and I’m doing well. I think I’ve proved to myself I’m university material,” said Tanya.
Tanya explained she will be the first one to attend college in her family and feels pressure to succeed and take care of her family.
“My mother does not speak English well and my father is out of the picture…and my brother who graduated from here a few years ago is looking for a job,” said Tanya. “I’ve seen how limited my family’s options and have decided I want a better path than that.”
The College Center offers a lot of support for students. Ms. Walling, the campus’s college counselor coordinates information nights for students and their parents on how to pay for college and study for the SAT’s.
Ray explained that the support from the college center helps, but the overall mentality of his peers can be distracting.
“A lot of my friends aren’t really thinking about college, most of them will probably end up at a city college, but still won’t really have a plan,” said Ray.
Ray wants to study business at San Diego State. Tanya wants to go into medicine and is crossing her fingers that she is accepted to UCLA.
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