In an effort to get junior high students focused on college, the Imperial County Office of Education will use a $9 million grant to implement a countywide program focusing on students in the seventh grade. The $9.4 million grant, known as the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs grant, was recently awarded to the P16 Council — a committee operating under the college-going initiative to aid students in getting to college — in conjunction with the ICOE.

“We start at the seventh-grade level because we don’t want to lose (students) before they’ve begun (focusing on college),” ICOE director for curriculum and school support Antonia Zupancich said. “We want to make sure the students are on the right track. “Sometimes the kids make mistakes in selection of class,” she said, “and we’re trying to provide assistance for that.” The grant will be implemented beginning this year and it will pay for summer academies, summer camps, student-parent camps, trips to university campuses and other workshops for students.

Starting with this year’s seventh-graders at most of the Imperial Valley’s junior high schools, the money will cover this crop of students for the next six years. It will also be used for next year’s seventh-graders. Zupancich said the effects of this program won’t just be felt in the near future. “This has the potential to have a huge long-term impact on the Imperial Valley,” she said. “If we have these students become proficient in college and then if they come back, our Valley as a whole will be more productive. “This is something that will be very important to the entire Imperial Valley,” she said.