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October 15, 2007
Contents
Policy
Update
Rising
Professionals
Local
Business Partnership
Instructor
Highlight
Student
Profile
Director's
Message
Calendar
November
1st
SEA 35th
Anniversary Gala
For details click
here.
October
15th-19th
Red Ribbon Week
October 31st
Fall
Festival
November 5th -16th
Can Food Collection
Drive
December 3rd - 14th
Winter Essay
Contest
DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE
S.E.A.’S Community
Impact
S.E.A., we
know that in order to transform troubled youth into productive
members of our society and role models, we must reach beyond
their academic deficiencies. Over the past thirtyfive years,
we’ve learned that a comprehensive approach to learning is
fundamental to our success and that of our students. To this
effect, we’ve launched programs that compliment academic
requirements while maintaining a focus on issues that affect
students who are on probation, have dropped out of school or
have been expelled.
Our holistic approach toward education and professional
success relies on many factors, including
support from
parents, educators, counselors, mentors and paraprofessionals.
Also crucial to this course is a unified strategy, with added
support from innovative academic and after school programs;
and wraparound services. Today, I am proud to share with you
that 96 percent of S.E.A.’s senior students graduate from high
school.
In addition, independent research results indicate that
one year after completing the program 82 percent continue to
successfully apply tools and resources that they learned while
under S.E.A.’s tutelage, guidance and support.
At S.E.A. we know that decreases in crime and dropout
rates and increases in graduation rates are directly
correlated. We also know that resources provided to these
students will, in turn, positively impact the communities
where they reside. This is why, we are proud to be a catalyst
of change in our communities and in the lives of the students
that we serve.
Cesar Calderon
Executive Director
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POLICY
UPDATE
Governor Signs Sunset Legislation AB 177 that Ensures
S.E.A.’s Future
 On October 12, 2007,
Governor Arnold Shwar-zenegger signed AB 177 into law. The
measure, which is contingent on approval from the county board
of education, extends the operational authority of Soledad
Enrichment Action, Inc. ( S.E.A.) charter high schools through
June 30, 2012, and provides funding to its charter
schools. "We are extremely proud of the bipartisan
support that we received from the California Legislature,
which sustains S.E.A.'s effective educational alternative
programs for high risk youth," said Jennie Carreon de Lacey,
S.E.A.'s Director of Government & Public
Relations.
Thanks to the measure, S.E.A.
can continue to offer its students the uniquely holistic
approach to academic achievement that is core to its
mission. During the 2004-2006 school years, this approach
delivered a whopping 95.6% graduation rate from S.E.A.
schools.
For the past 35 years, S.E.A.
has proven to be an effective alternative for youth seeking to
overcome personal and societal barriers. "We are proud to
be in a position to show that S.E.A. is a win-win for all of
us: the youth, their families, the instructors, and our
community," added Carreon de Lacey.
For more information
about the program, please contact Jennie Carreon de
Lacey at 213.480.4200.
LOCAL BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP
Provides students with Work
Experience
 S.E.A.’s High Risk High Needs Employment
Program (HRHN) is collaborating with 99 Cents Only Stores’
Regional Human Resources Manager, Louis G. Fontenot Jr. For
the past 3 Fridays S.E.A. has hosted a “hiring frenzy” for
youth participating in the HRHN Employment Program, young
adults from S.E.A.’s Manchester Site and their
families. Of the more than half of the sixty people who
attended the hiring frenzy were hired.
To this
effect, S.E.A. would like to thank Ms. Lakeya Johnson – a
S.E.A. Team Leader, for attending a Job Fair in East L. A, the
HRHN Employment Staff in Cluster 1 Area 1, Cluster 2 Area 1,
Cluster 2 Area 2, and S.E.A. Manchester’s staff leadership
(Margaret Gondinez, Felipe Vasquez, Mr. Walkins, and Leon
White).
For more
information about the program, please
contact Stacie Washington
213-479-6073.
RISING
YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
Creating Futures with Job
Skills
 S.E.A.’s CSBG Job Readiness Skills
Program is a course consisting of six months of group and
individual sessions, referrals for job training programs, and
other support services that are followed by a year of
follow-up calls.
Steve
Montenegro, a S.E.A. student, is the 76th youth to have
successfully completed the 2006-2007 CSBG Job Readiness Skills
Program. He credits his success to his teachers,
counselors and friends.
He wrote
the following special message of gratitude to his program
counselor, Mrs. Ortega: “I really want to thank my counselor
and friend Tanesha Ortega. Without you, I would have
probably given up, but you wouldn’t let me! I will take with
me all of the important skills that you taught me...thank you
for always helping me!”
S.E.A. is
proud to recognize the hard work, perseverance, and
accomplishments of Steve Montenegro. We also thank East Los
Angeles College, East Occupational Center and the
Archdiocese’s Programs.
For
more information about the program, please
contact Ana Salazar
323-261-9712 .
INSTRUCTOR HIGHLIGHT
Taiwan Abril Alvarado, Teacher, S.E.A. High School
Highland Park
A native of
Chihuahua Mexico, Taiwan Abril Alvarado was raised in East Los
Angeles, and has lived in La Puente, California, for more than
24 years.
Ms.
Alvarado holds a Bachelors and Masters of Arts in English
Literature from Cal Poly Pomona. She also plans to pursue
a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature.
 "S.E.A. offers me a unique opportunity to share my
knowledge of and passion for English with students who are
eager to learn. With a career in education spanning more
than 10 years, and having watched so many students fall
through the cracks, I was looking for an opportunity to help
students caught in similar situations. Soledad Enrichment
Action creates these opportunities for me. I hope that my
experience as well as my dedication to education will serve as
a positive example to my S.E.A.
students."
STUDENT PROFILE
Esmeralda Atilando, Student, S.E.A. High School
Fetterly Site in East Los Angeles
 Fresh Start
Esmeralda
Atilano is a student ahead of her class. She is working
very hard to graduate by February 2008; a goal she feels she
can achieve with the help of S.E.A. Seven months ago,
Esmeralda had no ambition or interest in school
whatsoever. Her family had moved from Boyle Heights to
the Whittier area leaving Esmeralda’s school behind. In
addition, Esmeralda had fallen too far behind academically to
catch up with her class. Then, one of her former teachers
suggested she look into S.E.A. Charter Schools.
Thanks to
the advice of her teacher, Esmeralda now attends the S.E.A.
Fetterly site in East Los Angeles, where now “learns Math and
understands it,” she says. She attributes her success to
the individual attention she receives from S.E.A.
teachers.
Teachers
at S.E.A. have inspired Esmeralda to make a difference in the
lives of students. When she graduates, she would like to
become a High School Counselor. She recognizes that students
in high school need to be motivated and encouraged to reach
their full academic potential. Esmeralda says “we all have
rocks to climb; I would like to be the person pushing students
forward.”
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