By JONATHAN DALE, Staff Writer
May 24, 2007
Printed courtesy of Imperial Valley Press, El Centro, CA

CALEXICO — Karolia Macias knows what it takes to go from Calexico High School graduate to a university graduate.

Been there, done that.

Macias, a 2001 graduate of Calexico High and 2006 recipient of a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California, Riverside, spoke to juniors at her alma mater Thursday as part of the Imperial County Office of Education’s Higher Education Week.

“Today is real important because I think there’s a lot of potential in the Imperial Valley, and I think students need to go to college,” Macias said.

More than 20 colleges and universities, including community colleges, UC campuses, California State University schools and private colleges made the trek to the Valley this week to talk to local high school juniors.

For many of the 2,342 local high school juniors who attended the event — which hit every Valley high school from Calipatria to Holtville — Higher Ed Week was the first chance they got to actually think about which college they want to attend this fall.

“It opens my mind more to different opportunities, to different colleges,” 16-year-old Calexico High junior Ismael Reyes said. “I’m taking away more knowledge, and it’s helped in narrowing my decisions on which colleges I want to apply to.”

Ismael said he’s focusing on trying to get into UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, Vanguard University of Southern California or San Diego State University.

“The Internet’s not enough,” Ismael said. “We need more one-on-one talk.”

That’s exactly what Higher Ed Week gave Valley juniors Tuesday through Thursday — a great opportunity to speak to college representatives.

“We’re just making them aware of what they can do in preparation for their senior year,” said ICOE College-going Initiative coordinator Javier Ramo. “It’s our goal to get everybody to at least have options after high school.”

Calexico junior Ana Ruan used part of her time on the floor of her school’s gymnasium to peruse materials set out by Humboldt State University.

“It’s really interesting, because I get to look around and see different colleges,” the 17-year-old said. “I’m looking around to find the college I want to go to, hopefully.”