‘Before Puente, college was a dream, now it’s a reality’

For many students, their junior and senior years in high school are jam-packed with college prep.

College applications require essays, letters of recommendation, and decent test scores, plus an impressive resume of extracurricular activities and good grades.

Scholarship applications have their own requirements.

In order to meet the university’s application deadlines, a high level of organization and support is required.

This is where The Puente Project comes in.

The Everett Alvarez High School Program is a college prep program that aims to increase the number of underrepresented students in four-year universities.

“Before Puente college was a dream, now it’s a reality,” wrote Juana Alvarez, 2020 Puente alumni of Everett Alvarez High School, on a poster.

Alvarez is now attending the University of California Santa Cruz.

Break the stigma

The program is open to all students and includes writing, counseling and mentoring components.

“Puente gave me the opportunity to stay here and do the same high school,” said Shawnie Diaz, a senior at Everett Alvarez. “

Diaz said many students do not know when the college application deadlines are or what is required.

“Puente is good at the structure of how to fill in all of these as yet unknown places,” said Diaz.

Dozens of Everett Alvarez students have attended prestigious universities as a result of the program. Many of these students were the first in their families to go to college with no idea what the path to college graduation would be like.

In Puente they found guidance from teachers and fellow students.

“Many of us are first-generation students, and I think that was one of the reasons we were motivated to take the program because we couldn’t look up to that leadership,” said Alondra Rodriguez, senior at Everett Alvarez. “We want to be the people in our families who break the stigma of not going to college. For us, Puente is a really great navigation system. It is like a compass for how we can be successful and how we can inspire others to succeed. “

A guide light

The program is aimed at heterogeneous teaching, said Peter Williams, English teacher and Puente consultant. This means that there is a mix of students who differ in motivation and skills.

“This will help really bridge the gap for everyone. You have your students who are low-motivated to work and who, when they know each other, suddenly really start pushing each other, ”said Williams.

Williams begins recruiting prospective puente students, or “puentistas,” from middle school classrooms.

The Puente program is led by Williams, Brian Tumminelli and Sandra Mondragon.

The Everett Alvarez High School class of 2021 had 16 seniors who later attended UC Berkeley. Eight of them were pupils of Puente.

Overall, the Puentistas had an admission rate of 96% at four-year universities in 2021, with the majority receiving letters of admission from three or more universities. This includes students who have chosen Hartnell College in Salinas.

The majority chose a University of California (UC) college, including: UC Berkeley, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, and UC Davis.

There were also Puente students accepted into Stanford, Princeton, and Harvard.

“The Puente program got me to stay in school and keep fighting the fighting, waking up in the morning and coming to school because the educational system we have just doesn’t work for me,” said Alex Holguin. “Being in Puente actually made me persevere and stick with everyone because I actually thought about changing schools in my first and second years, but because of Puente, I stayed. Everyone here made me really comfortable. “

The Puente family

The program was also an emotional support for the students.

“The most important thing Puente has done for me is security and comfort,” said Ashely Hunter. “It also created a family, someone I can turn to when I’m stressed or just need someone to comfort me. I have a feeling that is the most important thing I found at Puente. All of these new friends, all of these people who can help me, especially the older puentistas in college. You come in and talk to us and there is just a sense of comfort to know that there are people who have been through the same things as you. “

One student from Puente in particular had incredible success applying to universities: Jorge Luis Antonio Marquez Sanchez, a graduate of Everett Alvarez High School and alumni of the Puente program.

He was accepted into 21 universities and offered full scholarships from most of the schools where he was accepted. Marquez-Sanchez eventually chose Harvard, where his tuition and meals are paid for four years.

Harvard University reported a 4% acceptance rate for the class by 2025, making it one of the most competitive universities in the country.

Only 12% of the class is identified as Hispanic or Latino, according to the university.

The only other school in Salinas that Puente offers is Rancho Cielo, a campus that serves low-income or segregated youth ages 16 to 24. The closest puente program to Rancho Cielo is in San Jose.

“Puente is like cultivating the college dream for many of us,” said Ricardo Pulido. “I always had the ability to understand the concepts being taught, but I wasn’t your typical intellectual at all. But when I entered Puente, I was surrounded by a family that enabled me to be successful. I can get the help I needed to get me started on my path and develop my intellectual skills that are required for college. I honestly have to thank Puente for the person I am now. ”

David Rodriguez is an education reporter and staff photographer for The Salinas Californian. For tips or story ideas, you can email him at [email protected]. Sign up to support local journalism.