Two Santa Rosa schools create push for success

<p>Comstock eighth-grader Leticia Ibarra wants to go to college before becoming a chef, but sometimes she appreciates a helpful push to keep her on track.</p><p>Ibarra was one of about 300 Comstock and Monroe Elementary School students who heard San Francisco-based radio DJ Edgar “Sho Boy” Sotelo speak on pursuing higher education as a crucial component to fulfilling their dreams.</p><p>“It makes us feel like we can succeed in life,” she said of the message from successful young Latinos.</p><p>The talk was part of the launch of CREO — Creating Real Educational Opportunities. The program, based at Comstock and partnered with Monroe, is modeled after the Ninth Grade Academy at Piner that asks freshmen to sign a pledge to attend a series of workshops and after-school events to help students and parents navigate high school graduation and college application requirements.</p><p>The sixth through eighth-graders were asked Friday to sign a similar pledge: “Yes, I plan on pursuing a post secondary education, and I want to take advantage of programs that will help me achieve this goal and prepare me for high school and beyond.”</p><p>“For a lot of students, at least the students we serve, until we start talking to them, they haven't really given it any thought at all,” Comstock Principal Bob Dahlstet said.</p><p>Signing the pledge “becomes a symbolic commitment and it also lets us know what they plan to do,” he said.</p><p>Comstock, which has suffered years of declining enrollment a<NO1><NO>mid concerns about the school's safety and academic rigor, is riding a positive wave.</p><p>Scores from last spring's testing season jumped by 53 points year over year — the largest jump of any middle school in Santa Rosa City Schools.</p><p>Comstock, which is in it fifth year of federal Program Improvement sanctions, also met all 25 No Child Left Behind law benchmarks. That success gets it closer to exiting federal scrutiny requiring program improvement.</p><p>Seven out of 10 Comstock students speak a language other than English at home and nearly as many are economically disadvantaged. Still, every subgroup reached federal targets this year.</p><p>CREO will host motivational speakers during the school day and offer after school information nights for students and parents, said Rebekah Rocha, community outreach coordinator with Santa Rosa City Schools.</p><p>It's important to give students — many of whom would be the first in their family to attend college — access to speakers who look, speak and share a similar background, Rocha said.</p><p>“The kids are so unfamiliar with people like them, who they can relate to, who have been successful in a profession and explored higher education,” she said.</p><p>Sotelo urged students to take responsibility for their own futures.</p><p>“Every action you take, good or bad, doesn't just affect you, it affects your parents, your family, your neighborhood, your school, your generation,” he said. “If you are a Latino out there acting a fool, they'll say all Latinos act like fools. .<TH>.<TH>. You represent so much more than yourself.”</p><p>Seventh grader Angel Hernandez said hearing some hard — and funny — talk from a young Latino who had a rough upbringing reinforced the need to be diligent about his studies.</p><p>“It doesn't matter about your color,” he said, “but how smart you are and what you put your head to.”</p>