|
Changing Reality
UCSD Alum Helps Get Inner-City Youth to College
Ioana Patringenaru | August 20, 2007
 |
| Eduardo Corona, a Reality Changers student, and a classmate test a paper bridge during an Academic Connections class. (Photo/Juanita LaHaye) |
|
Miguel Ceron: $201,000 to go to Harvard; Arlene Alvarez: $186,000 to go to Northwestern; Beto Morales: $176,000 to go to Dartmouth.
The yearbook for the Reality Changers program, started in 2001 by UCSD alumnus Chris Yanov, says it all right on the first page: “Over $2 million in college scholarships for RC grads!” Below, the names of graduates are listed with the hefty dollars amounts they received to get into some of the nation's most prestigious universities.
The program is designed to help inner-city youth go to college by providing scholarships, tutoring and a flurry of activities. It represents the past, present and future of UCSD, Yanov said. He is the past. UCSD undergraduates who are tutoring Reality Changers students are the present. The students the program serves are the future, Yanov said.
UCSD also plays a key part by opening its summer Academic Connections program to Yanov’s students. The university provides scholarships, too. Reality Changers doesn’t receive government funding, so Yanov works tirelessly to raise money. The program receives grants from foundations, but more than half of donations come from individuals, who give anywhere from $5 to five figures.
The goal is to keep teens so busy that they won’t have the time to get into trouble, or even think about getting into trouble. Telling them to “just say no” to drugs and gangs isn’t enough, Yanov said. “They need to say ‘yes’ to something else,” he added.
The program
Reality Changers students meet once a week for three hours in downtown, City Heights or Solana Beach. They study for 90 minutes with tutors, half of whom are UCSD students. They listen to speakers and take part in leadership development seminars. They also take weekly SAT practice tests. The tests allow them to earn points to get a scholarship to Forest Home, an interdenominational Christian summer camp located in the San Bernardino Mountains. High school juniors take a 10-week Princeton Review SAT prep course. Also, 25 students volunteer in the emergency room at Rady Children’s Hospital. Their job is to help families cope while they wait for a physician to see their little one.
"It made
me a whole different person,
a better person for the community."
The program activities have attracted a growing number of students over the past six years -- from four in 2001 to about 100 today. It also expanded from its original location in the Golden Hill neighborhood near downtown to Solana Beach in 2004 and City Heights in 2006. Reality Changers’ first high school graduates went out into the world in 2004. The two students went to Dartmouth and San Diego State University. All Reality Changers graduates since then have gone on to some form of higher education. Many have gone on to four-year schools. The program encourages them to leave San Diego County, but a handful chose to attend UCSD.
A former student
Jorge Narvaez is one of them. He was one of the first four students to join Reality Changers in 2001. The program had a major impact on his life, he said.
“It made me a whole different person, a better person for the community,” he said. “It made me understand why it’s important to give back.”
 |
| Eduardo poses with his Academic Connections classmates. (Photo/Juanita LaHaye) |
|
Narvaez became the first in his family to graduate from high school and go on to college. Without Reality Changers, he would never have gotten this far, he said. In fact, he probably would be working full time, he added. The UCSD ethnic studies major is now thinking about law school. He would like to work on immigration issues, he said.
“Who knows where life takes me, but I’m going to be changing reality, if you know what I mean,” he added.
He said he chose UCSD because he wanted to stay close to his family. He also felt comfortable on campus after he attended UCSD’s Academic Connections summer program in high school, he explained. The summer classes taught him to be independent and to live with students from different cultures, he said.
This summer, more than 30 Reality Changers students followed in Narvaez’ footsteps at UCSD. They each took one Academic Connections class, which met for five hours a day. Students earned six academic credits from UCSD Extension. That will give them a significant edge on their college applications, Yanov said.
Summer classes and a current student
Eduardo Corona, 15, enrolled in a mechanical engineering class. He struggled at first. But the more he listened, the more he understood trigonometry and algebra. To put their newfound knowledge into practice, Eduardo and his classmates built bridges made out of paper, staples and tape, which had to be strong enough to hold a three-pound textbook for 10 seconds.
 |
| Reality Changers students take in a baseball game at Petco Park. (Photo/Juanita LaHaye) |
|
Eduardo and a friend were the first to finish their project. They used nine pieces of paper to put together a three-ounce bridge. A few days later, they got to find out just how strong their creation was. They were up against more complicated contraptions, some of them much heavier. Eduardo, who took the lead on the project, carefully placed the bridge between two tables. He had trouble balancing it at first. Finally, he was able to prop up the make-shift bridge and gently placed a textbook on top of it. Would the bridge hold? The seconds went by. “Ten seconds, got it,” said Kristin Schaaf, one of the class’ instructors. “We built it in 30 minutes,” Eduardo said proudly.
But the toughest test was yet to come. Students started piling up as many textbooks as possible onto their bridges. Some supported about eight textbooks. Others stopped at four. Eduardo’s bridge was the lightest in the class. How would it fare? He loaded it with one textbook, then two, then three. “No way, oh my God,” one student said as he watched. “How did you come up with that design,” another asked. “I just thought about it,” Eduardo replied. Finally, he placed a fourth textbook on the bridge. This time, it looked like it might break. Eduardo didn’t let it fall. He raised his arms to celebrate as other students cheered. “I won,” he said.
Eduardo said he really likes being on campus and wants to go to college. Higher education hadn’t always seemed like an attainable goal. Yanov recruited Eduardo for Reality Changers at his neighborhood’s YMCA. One evening, Eduardo got into trouble with the law, when he hung out with some old friends. He faced jail time. Yanov testified in his favor and highlighted his role in Reality Changers. “Look at him now,” Yanov said on a recent Tuesday evening, “Instead of being in jail, he’s in a mechanical engineering class.”
|
