On Saturday, August 18, North District Center held its SSS/TRiO Fall Orientation for prospective students and its returning members.
On Saturday, August 18, North District Center held its SSS/TRiO Fall Orientation for prospective students and its returning members.
We served Subway sandwiches, cookies, and chips, free to those who attended. We had three speakers, the first of which was Sylvia Leyva, who is an advisor at our Firebaugh Center and works closely with her TRiO students. She made some valuable points on the expectations of TRiO members, such as maintaining a GPA of 2.6 or higher, turning in progress reports twice a semester, and attending a workshop.
Our next speaker was the director of the SSS Program, Raquel Rodriquez. Some of the interesting information she had to offer was the eligibility requirements for students looking to join SSS. This program stands for Student Support Service; therefore, to join, students must either be a first generation college student, meet the low income guidelines, or have a documented disability.
For those who do meet one of the above SSS requirements and are willing to meet TRiO's expectations, these students have unlimited access to leadership opportunities, academic advising, financial aid counseling referrals, personal counseling, assistance with four-year institution applications, and peer mentoring.
This brings me to our last speaker, Yesenia De La Cruz, who is a West Hills graduate and peer mentor. She explained that she is here to help any student willing to reach out as she excelled in her classes in math, science, and English. While TRiO does want you to be successful students, one of the comments Raquel made is that this club also wants students to take some time to enjoy college. So, being a part of TRiO means taking field trips to four year colleges and beaches and participating in fun campus events like our Cinco De Mayo celebration or the Christmas Parade. Overall, SSS/TRiO is a great program for dedicated students looking to feel confident in class and enjoy their time out of it.
