Ana Chávez, 21, says a Spanish-English language barrier further isolates struggling high school students.
Credits: Alexa Schirtzinger
“The whole Santa Fe Public Schools system didn’t work for me,” Chávez tells SFR. Chávez, who immigrated to the US from El Salvador when she was nine years old, speaks perfect English now—but in high school, she says, still faced a language barrier.
When Chávez attended Santa Fe High, there were relatively few bilingual teachers, she says. (Stephens estimates that between 10 and 20 percent of his staff speaks both Spanish and English fluently; at Capital, Romero says, the fraction is closer to one-third.)
Instead, Chávez connected with other Spanish-speaking students.
“We’d never go to class because the teachers didn’t want to take the time to explain [assignments] to us,” Chávez says. “I don’t know how I managed to pass because I never did anything.”
But when her friends started dropping out and getting into trouble, Chávez says, she made up her mind to do the opposite—and she switched to Capital High.
“I lasted, like, a semester,” Chávez confesses. Finally, at SER/Career Academy, she found her niche, cramming more than 23 credits into a single year before she graduated. But it still wasn’t enough and, after taking SFCC’s placement test, Chávez spent her first two semesters of community college in developmental math and English courses.
“I nailed English at [SER/Career] Academy,” Chávez says, but there was still plenty she didn’t know. “Some of this stuff, I had never gone over with them,” she admits.
Once at SFCC, Chávez learned the skills she needed to earn an associate’s degree. She is now in her first semester at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in communications.
Chávez credits her own motivation, but also her family’s unflagging support.
“The things my mother would tell me—‘Get your butt up and go to school; remember that school’s going to help you’—I knew it was from her heart,” Chávez tells SFR. “You have to have somebody inspirational in your life, somebody to push you and say, ‘You have to keep going.’”
Start with the staff at SFCC - the academic advisors are the worst I have ever seen!
I arrived needing a few prerequisite classes for work at UNM. I was told that my transcripts were all that was needed for placement. I had already earned a BA and an MA.
Upon arrival I was informed by a patronizing 'academic advisor' that coursework not completed within the last 5 years was 'not worth anything'. I replied that by this logic, all of the scientists at Los Alamos were non-functional, academically. The Advisor failed to see the humor or the logic in this. He huffily insisted I was to take a math placement exam 'for your own good'.
I circumvented the exam with a phone call to the instructor, who was only too happy to assist me with registration.
Several weeks later I had an uncomfortable encounter with the now enraged Advisor. In the hallway. He was completely unprofessional about it.
I passed the class with a 99 average. So the intervening 22 years failed to dull my ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Imagine that.
*Note to the SFCC administration: the installation of Academic Advisors who automatically regard every single incoming student as an unintelligent, uneducated and/or underperforming individual does nothing for your recruitment and retention.
Perhaps these same individuals should repeat some of their coursework since it is, obviously, more than 5 years out of date, and they are functioning below grade level.
The comment about the academic advisors being the worst ever is extremely false. I can understand this gentleman's frustrations; however his experience is an exception. My experience with the academic advisors has been wonderful. They are helpful and always trying their best to help anwser any questions a student may have. They make the transition from high school to college as convenient as possible.
Perhaps, the academic advisers are 'the worst' Homonym has ever seen, and if so, perhaps his experience is very limited. I returned to college in the summer of 2009, after an absence of almost 20 years (the most recent attempt at a degree), and encountered the same thing (previous courses work no longer valid). I consider myself extremely fortunate to have run into Calahan Fiddes, an academic advisor at SFCC. I was actually glad I retook the Algebra...I was a little rusty. I 'tested out' of the other prerequisites, and that was the end of it...I was on my way! I cannot thank the staff and instructors enough for their continued support and encouragement. As with anything in life, I realized I also had to be my own advocate, and persisted in looking for answers and solutions, when confronted with concerns or questions. I will graduate in May, having retrained in an entirely different field, and have been offered, and excepted a job in the health care. I'm have also registered for Fall 2011 classes, and plan to continue for a BA in health sciences. By the way, I'll be 65 in June, and know that many of us at SFCC seeking an 'encore' career have experienced the encouragement and support of the staff at SFCC>