In response to the implementation of a nearly $3.6 million, seven-year Department of Education Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP) grant, LAEP has appointed new personnel at Bethune Middle School. 

Ellen Pais has been appointed by the Board to the position of President and CEO to continue leading the organization's critical work. Ms. Pais previously served as the Senior Director of LAEP's Community School Initiative where she oversaw the growth and implementation of the community school strategy including community and parent engagement and school readiness programs in some of the most high need areas of our city. Ms. Pais has led the organization's effort to facilitate and manage community-based collaboratives focused on increasing the academic success of youth. 

In addition to the many demands in her new role, Ellen found time to answer a few questions:

How does your experience with LAEP inform your new position as President & CEO? 

There is incredible joy in being able to be in my dream job with amazing colleagues and to work with so many agents of change - the LAEP staff and board, the communities, school staff, teachers and parents, and community partners. All of these people are inspiring, even in this time of severe financial difficulty. 

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Candy models of Gold Line extension

 

Over 100 tenth-grade students worked alongside city planners, architects, and urban planning and engineering college mentors to redesign the Gold Line Eastside Extension Station. These students, from the East L.A. Renaissance Academy (ELARA), on the Torres campus, are part of a thriving urban planning school that engages Eastside youth in hands-on learning centered on community revitalization. 

The challenge: design a metro station that would appeal to teenagers. Students conducted a rigorous analysis of the aesthetics, utility, and bicycle-friendliness of stops along the Gold Line from East LA to Pasadena. Their final plans reflected their vision for an East LA stop that included amenities lacking in the surrounding community such as parks, retail, housing and offices. 

"The students clearly articulated their visions for the future of East Los Angeles," said Jane Patterson, Senior Director of Transform Schools. "Their designs were informed by what they had learned about the impact of industrialization in their World History class. As a response, every design included vast amounts of green, open space and places for the community to gather." 

LAEP provided ELARA teachers with intensive support in developing project-based curriculum that centered on empowering youth to design solutions to complex city and transportation planning issues. LAEP also connected ELARA to urban planner James Rojas, who led 3-D interactive modeling workshops and organized a comprehensive tour of the Gold Line for students. Rojas said the student designs for the Gold Line Station models were incredible. "[They are] rich with colors, shapes and textures that draw you in," he said. "The candy models capture the vibrancy and sensual quality of East Los Angeles." 

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Fundraising for Calculus Camp at San Fernando High School inspires support from alumnus Jesus Perez and Councilmember Richard Alarcon.In April, 100 seniors enrolled in calculus courses at San Fernando High School will once again be able to attend Calculus Camp in Big Bear. This intensive academic program had gone unfunded for the last three years due to budget restrictions. But when calculus teachers reached out to Stephanie Marron, the LAEP community school coordinator on campus, she took action. Marron was able to gather community support and raise funds, allowing teachers to focus their time on academics.

"Support for this has been terrific," Marron said. "Alumni who attended this trip 5 and 10 years ago have donated. They remember how important this experience was to them, and they feel connected and invested in San Fernando High School." 

Jesus Perez, SFHS alumnus

Jesus Perez, SFHS alumnus and native of San Fernando, raised donations at a family New Year's party and made the contribution in honor of Mr. Herbert Rosenbloom. "[He] was one of the greatest math teachers ever to grace the halls of SFHS. What better way to honor his memory than to send some deserving students to Calculus Camp," Perez said. Perez went on to attend MIT for his undergraduate degree, and then received a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford. Currently, Perez works for Airborne Systems as Principal Mechanical Engineer in the Thermal Design and Analysis group. 

Councilmember Richard Alarcon also made a significant donation of $5,000. Marron has issued a special challenge to the community to match Councilmember Alarcon's donation. At the time of publication, students only need $2,400 more to reach their goal of $10,000 to make camp a reality. 

To implement a nearly $3.6 million, seven-year Department of Education Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP) grant, LAEP has appointed new personnel at Bethune Middle School: Amy Chou, who was already at Bethune as LAEP's community school coordinator, will take on the additional role of part-time GEAR UP director. Gloria Hernandez has been hired as GEAR UP coordinator. The grant, received by CSU Dominguez Hills, was designed to expand college preparatory resources that follow 7th grade students from low-income families as they matriculate to high school graduation. LAEP will partner with CSU Dominguez Hills and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to expand those benefits to the entire middle school campus at Bethune, as well as the high school campus at Fremont, where 100% of Bethune students will matriculate. The grant has already made a College Center possible on the Bethune campus, which opened March 22. 

Bethune College Center

Each year, students will receive resources to help them succeed in school and move on to college, such as academic advising, tutoring, summer academic programs, a rigorous secondary curriculum coupled with excellent teaching, workshops on financial literacy, time management and careers, and college campus visits. The GEAR UP team will also be partnering with Southwest College, LAUSD's Beyond the Bell afterschool program, the Unusual Suspects theater program and Community Coalition, to name a few, in order to expand on efforts that prepare students to be college- and career-ready.

 

 GET INVOLVED: Contact Amy Chou, GEAR UP Community School Director. achou@laep.org

Torres High School opened an on-campus community center and held a Resource and Youth Fair as it formally launched the LAEP community school strategy on its campus. Cristina Patricio, an alumna of Garfield High School and native of East Los Angeles, was named LAEP Community School Coordinator. "I was born and raised in East Los Angeles and continue to reside in the area," Patricio said. "The day that I graduated from Garfield High School, I knew that I wanted to return and serve my community. Through Los Angeles Education Partnership, I have been given this opportunity."  

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Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities to foster great schools that support the personal and academic success of children and youth from birth through high school.