“First-generation Latinx students count on Adelante! to help make their dreams come true, becoming lifelong learners along the way.”
“The Adelante! program seeks to decrease the dropout rate and increase the graduation rate for Boulder High School’s at-risk Latino students, while maximizing educational opportunities at school and beyond,” says Michelle Carpenter, an Advanced Placement Spanish teacher at Boulder High School who directs the Adelante! program, a grantee of your Community Foundation.
“We do this by demanding academic rigor, while offering social scaffolding. Program supports include tutoring, providing constant contact with teachers, monitoring attendance, offering materials and technology, reaching out to families, and making appropriate referrals – all in a familiar setting where expectations are high.”
Indeed, the Adelante! program offers alternative educational opportunities and tutoring after school, and actively promotes post-secondary educational opportunities. In celebration of the program’s 25th anniversary, an Adelante! reunion will be held on April 25 to share in the accomplishments of an entire generation of students. The event will take place in the Boulder High cafeteria. Learn more and RSVP.
“Adelante! addresses the achievement gap, and promotes post-secondary study by offering tutoring, college prep work, and mentorship programs,” continues Michelle. “Students have support with homework, postsecondary options, career planning, budgeting, interviewing and more.
“Put another way, first-generation Latinx students count on Adelante! to help make their dreams come true, becoming lifelong learners along the way.”
Remarkably, in 2018, more than 95% of 54 Adelante! graduates – including DACA and other undocumented students – went to college with well over $750K in scholarships.
“The message we have for the Community Foundation – and our community as a whole – is one of gratitude,” adds Michelle. “The work we’re doing to take on deeply entrenched challenges in our school system and in our community can’t be tackled alone. We’ve had so many volunteer mentors and tutors, and support from the foundation and others, to help us address the uneven playing field for first-generation students.”
In its 25-year history, the program has also been supported by the City of Boulder Human Services Fund and Youth Opportunities Program, the Boulder Rotary Club, Impact on Education (another foundation grantee), the Zonta Foothills Foundation, the Jared Polis Foundation, and several institutions of higher education … as well as many BHS parents and community members who serve as mentors.
