Local high school matches students with colleges
Kelly Williams | 5-25-2010 | Comments |
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On Manchester Avenue in Inglewood, one building stands out among the countless fast food chains and strip malls. The starkly white building of the Animo Inglewood Charter High School seems like an oasis in the middle of urban sprawl. The school, ranked 23rd nationally among all public high schools in America by U.S. News and World Report, has created a supportive atmosphere where students are focused on academics. As senior Alejandra Herrera prepared to graduate, she reflected fondly on her experience.
“Honestly, the people I've met at Animo are now like my family,” Herrera said. “I've built such strong friendships because it's such a small school and we've all interacted, and we've all grown up together.”
Animo Inglewood Charter High School received its charter in 2002 on an appeal to the State Board of Education after the charter was denied by the Inglewood Unified School District. Animo, Spanish for "vigor, mind, spirit, valor, and the courage to overcome odds," is one of 18 high schools in Los Angeles operated by Green Dot, a charter school operation. Beginning with only 140 freshmen in 2002, Animo has grown significantly. Most students in the 522-student school have come to the high school from the underperforming Inglewood Unified Middle School system.
Migeul Salcedo, a senior at Animo, recalled middle school classes where a weapon was pulled or a teacher was reduced to tears.
“It’s a different environment” at Animo, he said.
Animo students are assigned a personal counselor as early as ninth grade that ensures they meet Animo graduation standards. For the past three graduating classes nearly 80 percent or more have gone on to four-year universities. College preparation is built into the school day with an “advisory” class unique to each grade level, emphasizing the college readiness techniques.
In their junior year, students learn standardized test techniques, craft college personal statements and create a portfolio that includes financial aid and college application materials. To graduate from Animo, students must submit at least one four-year university application. The college emphasis has led Animo graduates to top universities, many in the Ivy League.
The most distinctive Animo program, in addition to AP classes and interactive opportunities like whale watching for AP Biology, is the college match program, where college counseling is built into the curriculum to find the best college for each student.
Students are provided with information, test prep classes and assignments, and college tour opportunities.
“College match is by far the best program,” said Ismel Vallejo, a senior. “If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t have seen the different colleges on the east coast and everything.”
Students are given the opportunity to tour colleges on the east coast, including Bates College, Boston College, Connecticut College, Tufts University, Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Brandeis, Trinity College and Bowdoin.
“The staff here are incredible,” Salcedo said. “They’ll notice you in the hall, and if you look like you’re having a bad day, they’ll ask how you are and how they can help.”
Classmate Alma Luna agreed.
“It’s amazing to walk down the hall and have the principal know you personally, and tell you to tuck your shirt in or ask how your anatomy test went,” Luna said.
In accordance with state law, admission to Ànimo Inglewood Charter High School is open to any student in California, and students are admitted based upon the openings per grade at the time of enrollment. Two lotteries are conducted after students and parents fill out applications to determine the students admitted to each grade.
The first lottery held to fill up spaces is reserved for applicants who reside in the Inglewood school district, and the second lottery is for other applicants. Preference is given to siblings of current and graduated students of the school. Applicants not accepted at the time of the lottery are wait-listed according to the lottery number and admitted pending openings. Lottery night has become an event that Animo applicants anxiously await.
“On lottery night, I was really excited,” Luna said. “It was a relief not to get waitlisted.”
Many students have overcome tough obstacles to receive an Animo education. Luna, whose older silblings dropped out of high school, recalled being jumped by gang members at Crozier Middle School.
“I would have been a completely different person if I didn’t go to Animo” said Luna, who plans to study engineering or pre-medicine at the University of Southern California in the fall.
Herrera, who is heading to Dartmouth to study the psychology of sociology, described some of her fears.
“At Inglewood High, I was all on my own, [and] I didn't even know my counselor,” Herrera said. “It makes me anxious to think that I'm not going to have my counselors there for me next year.”
Animo’s appeal and success can be attributed not only to the school’s academic focus, but also to the school's social environment. Salcedo said the school encourages a close-knit, family feel.
“People feel accepted here no matter who you are,” she said. "There’s not much discrimination or bullying.”
Senior Ismel Vallejo, who will be attending Dartmouth College in the fall, recalled times during his junior year visiting his AP U.S. History teacher’s office hours three times a week to take his grade from a C to an A.
“She helped me figure out which information was the most important…and taught me more efficient studying strategies," Vallejo said. "I was thankful for her dedication to helping me, even with her busy schedule.”
Animo received the California distinguished school designation from the state department of education for the past three years. To be invited to apply for Distinguished School honors, schools must meet a variety of eligibility criteria, including designated federal and state accountability measures based on No Child Left Behind, Adequate Yearly Progress and the Academic Performance Index requirements.
The small school size and personal pupil attention dissuades students from getting lost in the shuffle.
“After being (at Inglewood high school) freshman year, the teachers here care so much about the students," Herrera said. "They really love us over there, and if you didn’t get your work done, you just didn’t. We [also] have the best counselors ever, [and] if I didn’t have them, I don’t even know what I would do. I didn’t know about sending all those midyear reports and stuff."
Luna said she and other students even have their counselors' phone numbers.
“They’ll text us, and say we’re going to have a meeting on this day about this…they will hunt you down to make sure you have your stuff done.”
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