Congratulations to our high school graduates who are now rising college freshmen!  They have officially become our DTS College Class of 2025.  They received their college t-shirts, as agraduation gift from DTS, and shared some big smiles as they gathered for our two week Bridge to College workshop to help prepare them for the transition to college.  Emerald, who is headed to UC Merced in the fall, said that Bridge to College taught her “what it is going to be like to live away from my parents. And while this is something I have never done before, I take comfort in knowing my DTS…

“I am spending the summer in Aurora, Colorado and working for the Aurora Community Connections Center (ACC). ACC is a family resource center for low-income, Spanish speaking Latino immigrants.  I will be developing and implementing an academic tutoring program for English language learners ages 5-11. I will also be part of the Science Can Be Fun program and Service Learning/Leadership programs for high school students.”                                                     Martha, Bates College ’23 “This summer I will be working closely with…

The final piece of our college readiness programming is our intensive two-week Bridge to College (BTC). Jailyn, who just completed her first year at Howard University, reflects back on program’s impact and believes it is not just beneficial, but essential.  She shares, “In BTC I learned about things I needed to know going into my first year. I found it really helpful that the program was run, in part, by current college students. They shared advice about everything like handling classes, office hours, and balancing school with social time. We even practiced time management with mock schedules that we had…

Alexa, a member of our graduating class who is headed to Smith College in the fall, had much to say about our Transition to College workshops. She shared that she felt “liberated” by the meetings asthey provided her with the answers to all her college related questions. Alexa also understood that the programming was just as critical for her parents as it was for her. She noted that DTS provided a safe space for her parents to “discuss their feelings about me going away and how my leaving home impacts them.”  She went on to say that “connecting with other parents going through the same thing reassured my mom and…

This month we launched the first part of our new and needed Career Awareness and Readiness programming. We have built this curriculum from both ends so 9th graders begin exploring career options as soon as they join DTS.  The final piece, beyond career awareness, is job readiness – something that is outside of our staff’s expertise. Therefore, we have partnered with Future Map to provide this essential and missing element.  Future Map, a nonprofit organization that helps first-generation, low-income college graduates prepare for the workforce through career coaching and related workshops, has already begun working with DTS college students.  In this first collaboration, Future Map will help students implement skills, both tangible and soft…