Fourth-grade students listen intently at a UCSF event designed to encourage them to pursue higher education and health science careers.
UCSF addressed the need for increasing the diversity of the academic pipeline to college with its fifth annual “I’m Going to College” program, which brought nearly 100 fourth-graders from San Francisco’s E.R. Taylor Elementary School to campus for the day.
“‘I’m Going to College’ exposes underserved students to health careers and helps them make the connection between attending college and becoming a health care professional,” said Orlando Elizondo, director of the UCSF-San Francisco Unified School District partnership.
The partnership between E.R. Taylor Elementary School, UCSF Student Academic Affairs and UCSF Community and Governmental Relations is an example of the University’s strategic vision of strengthening partnerships with local schools and exposing a diverse group of students at an early age to UCSF and the advantages of attending higher education.
“Programs such as ‘I’m Going to College’ are an investment in our future because they tap the enormous potential that exists among underserved students who may be unaware that attending college is an option,” said Elizondo. “Ensuring that health care providers reflect the diversity of the population will require us to work collaboratively with our K-12 colleagues, so that we are developing a diverse talent pool of students that will seek out careers in the health professions.”
Economic Opportunity
San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty spoke to an excited group of fourth-graders seated on the floor of Millberry Union’s Golden Gate Room about the job opportunities that will exist in biotech, digital media and clean technology in 2020, the year the fourth-graders could go to college.
“College is the ticket for you to reach your potential,” Dufty told the wide-eyed group. He later commented that he wanted to see these fourth-graders be prepared to go into well-paying jobs in future growth industries to support the diversity of San Francisco.
UCSF leaders Joseph Castro and Orlando Elizondo with San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who spoke at the event.
“I don’t want to see these kids growing up and leaving San Francisco because they couldn’t take advantage of our economic opportunities,” said Dufty. “I think the diversity of our city is dependent upon this type of engagement.”
After listening to inspiring words from Joseph Castro, PhD, associate vice chancellor for Student Academic Affairs, who shared how he grew up sharing a bedroom with a sibling and was the first in his family to go to college, the students began their day at UCSF. They attended classes taught by UCSF students, where they learned more about the college application process and financial aid.
“The students have so many questions about college,” said Lindsay Dowdle, a fourth-grade teacher at E.M. Taylor Elementary School. “While today answers many of them, the most exciting part is that it also brings more questions to the surface.”
In her four years of teaching at the school, Dowdle said she has taught only one student whose parents have graduated from college.
“In more privileged households, fourth-graders are often given a chance to visit their siblings who are at a college campus, and they start hearing about college life,” said Dowdle. “For them, the question is not ‘Are you going to college?’ but ‘Where are you going to college?’”
The idea of allowing the students from E.R. Taylor Elementary School to ask a different question makes the idea of going to college achievable.
While just 9 years old, Christine Chau seemed to understand the larger implications of the visit. “It’s important because when you go to college, you can get a better job. I want to be a doctor or be someone who helps people with their health.”
Photos by Shipra Shukla
