University of Connecticut Center for Academic …...University of Connecticut Center for Academic Programs ConnCAP Newsletter Volume VII Issue II Fall 2014 Please Submit to the Newsletter:

University of Connecticut

Center for Academic Programs

ConnCAP Newsletter Volume VII Issue II Fall 2014

Please Submit to the Newsletter:

Academic, Civic, and Ath-

letic Honors

Community Service News &

Activities

Original Writings

Original Artwork

School or Class News

Issues or Questions Information for the newsletter is drawn from the information you provide to your advisors during team meetings. We want to hear from you! Please submit to the newsletter! Contact your counselor about any interesting activities or events that you’d like to share!

Inside this issue:

Academic Days 1,3,4,5

Senior Trip 2

College Fair 5

Student Achievements 6 & 7

Letter from the Director

UConn Health Center Academic Day

The final academic day of the fall semester was held at the UConn Health Center in

Farmington for our eighth annual collaborative academic day with the Health Center outreach

initiative programs. Their staff, including Dr. Granville Wrensford, encouraged ConnCAP stu-

dents to learn more about careers in dental, medical, and other health care fields. The Health

Center developed several workshops that gave students hands-on access to the everyday work

of practitioners in that field. Because the events of the day

were led by medical students and dental professionals, stu-

dents had the opportunity to discuss the paths that current

dental and medical students had taken to get to where they are today. During lunch,

students had the opportunity receive advice and mentoring about careers in health

related fields from the Health Center staff and students present.

This academic day was highly successful and popular. Thank you to Dr.

Wrensford, and the other students and faculty of the Health Center for making the day

so engaging and informative!

Dear all,

As usual, this has been a very busy fall

semester! We started the year with a number of

fun and educational events, including three

academic days, a college trip for seniors, and a

visit to the Southern Connecticut College Fair.

We’ve also been seeing students regularly at

our team meetings with Christina.

In the spring, we are looking forward

to several more academic days and the annual

TRiO Day trip, which will give students the

chance to learn more about colleges and ca-

reers, meet other students in programs like

ours, and hear inspiring stories from students

who have overcome many different and diffi-

cult situations and achieved success.

Senior students are now finishing and

submitting their college applications. They

have been working diligently to ensure that

they are accepted to the college of their choice.

We are looking forward to celebrating accep-

tances with them in the coming months.

As the year winds down, we want to

thank everyone who has helped us to make

this year a success. Our outstanding summer

staff, tutors, and volunteers made the sum-

mer a great success, and the volunteers from

PRLACC, EcoHouse, La Unidad Latina, and

the Spring Valley Student Farm provided

great mentorship and support for our stu-

dents. We also want to thank the staff of the

high schools for helping us so much this fall!

We have finished with team meet-

ings and will resume during the last week

of January. We are looking forward to con-

tinuing to work with our students and assist-

ing with college selection and the financial

aid process.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and

joyful holiday season,

Susana M. Ulloa

Page 2 CONNCAP NEWSLETTER Fall 2014

College Trip Gives ConnCAP Students a Different Perspective

This year’s

annual senior trip

gave ConnCAP

students the chance

to visit several in-

state colleges

throughout south-

ern Connecticut,

showing them how

diverse the options

across the state are.

On Friday,

students visited

Fairfield University and the University of Bridgeport,

taking tours and participating in information sessions. On

Saturday morning, students took a tour of Southern Con-

necticut State University. At each school, students

learned about the majors available, dorms, and other as-

pects of campus life.

At the University of Bridgeport, the tour guide

was a student in the Student Support Services Program

there. She was able to inform students about all of the

At Southern Con-

necticut State University,

students met with Anna

Rivera-Alfaro, the Assis-

tant Director in the Aca-

demic and Career Advising

Office as well as five stu-

dents from the Organiza-

tion of Latin American

Students (OLAS). The

ConnCAP and OLAS stu-

dents broke off into

smaller groups, giving the

OLAS students the opportunity to share their experiences as

first generation college students with our ConnCAP students.

The students participated in a Paint Night activity

where they were able to share some laughs and create

memories in their last formal activity together. The students

were provided step by step instructions by Bella, owner of

Art Plus Studio. They had the opportunity to paint a night

scene or a any design of their choice. The students had a

great time with each other.

(From left to right) O’Neil Lewis, Risher Pena-Gomez, Paola Hernandez, Stephanie Duran,

Jordan Baez, Dion Smith, Tiffany Serrano, Melinda Olszewski and Leandra Nolette

(front row) Tatiana Hernandez, Javante Danvers and Janckarin Mendez-Espinal

CONNCAP NEWSLETTER Page 3 Fall 2014

Learning from M..E.T.A.S. Students about College Life

The second academic day of the year

brought ConnCAP students to the University of Connecti-

cut’s Puerto Rican Latin American Cultural Center

(PRLACC). At PRLACC, students were greeted with ex-

citement by Director Fany Hannon and Daisy Verduzco

Reyes, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Chicano-

Latino Studies, who both shared their inspirational stories

about overcoming adversity to gain admission to college

and achieving their dreams.

After hearing these stories, students were intro-

duced to mentors from the Mentoring, Educating, and

Training for Academic Success (METAS) Program, under-

graduate students who serve as peer mentors for first-year

and transfer students. These mentors work hard to ensure

that new students on campus find their home on campus

and feel welcome.

The mentors broke students up into five different

groups, and each group began a discussion about an impor-

tant topic for college life. Students gained personal insight

from the mentors’ experiences with the financial aid proc-

ess, balancing heavy academic course loads, finding aca-

demic support on campus, getting involved in clubs and

activities, and making new friends on campus. Students

moved from station to station, meeting and learning the

personal histories of each of the mentors who volunteered

their Saturdays for them.

In the afternoon, students played trivia games to

match the mentors with facts about their lives and got the

chance to hear about each mentor’s journey to UConn.

One in particular stood out to students, as he told the story

of his initial rejection from UConn. While he was disap-

pointed, he did not let that rejection defeat him. Instead,

he enrolled at Southern Connecticut State University and

worked hard to prove he could and would succeed in col-

lege. After a year, he reapplied to UConn as a transfer

student and was admitted. Alaychia Tyner noted that his

speech was the most memorable part of the day, and she

would remember to “keep trying even if you don’t get

selected by a college.” Lashawnda Phillips said that she

will remember that “anyone can get into college if they

try.” His powerful story reminded students that even

rejection shouldn’t keep you from achieving your

dreams.

Other useful information gained was about bal-

ancing school and social lives. Shakera James said that

she was glad to have the opportunity to think “about ex-

tracurricular activities and my social life” in addition to

the academics. Nadia Abdul agreed, saying that she was

glad to learn about “the benefits of getting involved, be-

cause it will help me prepare better” for college. Zaire

Diaz was glad to learn some ways to manage stress in

college from the mentors.

Students found the discussion about financial aid

particularly important, as it gave them ideas on the many

ways to finance a college education and information

about how the mentors had done so. Domingos Barbosa

was glad to learn “that there are lots of ways to help af-

ford college.” Jesus Alvarado felt “relieved” after learn-

ing about financial aid.

Overall, students were grateful to form personal

connections with students in college. Their first-hand

accounts of the application process, financial aid, and the

transition to being college students gave ConnCAP stu-

dents concrete ideas of how they can achieve their dream

and be successful college students in the coming years.

Community Service Academic Day

CONNCAP NEWSLETTER

Page 4 Fall 2014

For our first academic day of the new

year, ConnCAP students visited the University of

Connecticut’s Spring Valley Student Farm along

with undergraduate students who live on the farm

and in the EcoHouse Learning Community.

Spring Valley Student Farm is far from the

main campus and feels like a remote and distant

world from UConn’s main campus. Twelve

UConn students live on the farm, paying part of

their housing stipend by gardening. Students from

EcoHouse visit every Friday afternoon, spending

two hours harvesting, mulching, weeding, and

building new projects, like an in-process per-

maculture field that utilizes ecologic and sustain-

able design standards to create a self-maintained

habitat modeled on natural ecosystems.

At the farm, students were able to hike to the Willi-

mantic River and see the pastures where cows graze. They also

had the opportunity to meet (and pet!) the farm’s chickens,

learn about the organic methods the farmers use to protect their

crops, and learn about greenhouses. Students also got the op-

portunity to taste some of the edible flowers grown on the

farm, which the students who live on the farm often add to their

salads. The flowers, students said, tasted peppery but good.

After the farm, students ate a meal using produce grown at the

farm at Whitney Dining Hall.

Students got an opportunity to talk to current

EcoHouse residents about how community service fit

into their lives as students, both in high school and in

college. Two of the EcoHouse students noted that they

wrote their college essays about service, and called

their experiences formative.

We look forward to going back to Spring Val-

ley Student Farm in the summer, when everything is in

bloom. Thank you to EcoHouse Coordinator Brigid

Belko, the students of Spring Valley Farm, and the resi-

dents of EcoHouse for making this morning exciting!

CONNCAP NEWSLETTER Page 5 Fall 2014

In the afternoon of our first academic day, ConnCAP

students had the opportunity to take part in two workshops

designed to help them see the value of community service.

These seminars were run by hermanos from the fraternity La

Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc, in-

cluding Kevin Irizarry, a former tutor for the ConnCAP sum-

mer program.

La Unidad Latina is a national organization aimed at

providing educational opportunity for Latino students, devel-

oping leadership skills, and provide academic, social, and

cultural support to help students excel in institutions of

higher education. As a part of their

mission, the hermanos of the UConn

chapter of La Unidad Latina strongly

value community service and take

part in a number of activities outside

of the classroom to better themselves

and the community.

After brief introductions, the

hermanos broke the students up into

two groups to take part in different

hands-on workshops that led them to

experience different aspects of com-

munity service.

For an activity meant to show students about

working with limited resources, students were further di-

vided into teams tasked with coming up with a list of

words, each starting with their assigned letters. Groups

with more common letters found the activity much easier,

but those with less common letters worked creatively to

create as many words as they could, making the most of

their available resources.

Downstairs, students worked to create a defini-

tion of community service, using only drawings. Stu-

dents drew people holding hands, helping each other, and

other literal embodiments

of the sorts of kindness and

social responsibility that

the hermanos had aimed to

teach them.

Thank you to La

Unidad Latina for visiting

our program to share pow-

erful ideas about commu-

nity service with our stu-

dents!

Community Service Academic Day Continued

Southern Connecticut National

Hispanic College Fair On October 30, students from the ConnCAP Program had the op-

portunity to attend the annual Southern Connecticut National Hispanic Col-

lege Fair held at Western Connecticut State University.

At the fair, students met with representatives from a variety of uni-

versities and colleges. Students had the opportunity to meet with colleges

from around the region, with colleges from New England to as far away as

Illinois represented.

The ConnCAP students were excited about the practical things they

learned. Ashley Weaver was excited to find out how many colleges offered

the majors she is interested in and noted that the fair “helped me to keep

different colleges in mind.” Priscilla Shuan was glad to have “learned the

SAT score requirements for the different colleges I was interested in,”

which will help keep her on track as she prepares to take them in the com-

ing years.

A highlight of the day was our students getting a chance to meet the students from the Waterbury ConnCAP

Program, giving students a chance to discuss shared goals, struggles, and success.

On Thursday, July 31st, students participating in

ConnCAP’s 2014 summer program gathered at the Univer-

sity of Connecticut’s Storrs campus to celebrate their com-

pletion of the intensive, six-week program. They were

joined by family and friends, ConnCAP’s summer faculty

and staff, and a number of distinguished guests, including

special guest speaker Jane A. Ciarleglio, Executive Direc-

tor of the Connecticut Office of Higher Education, and

keynote speaker Jermaine Brookshire, Jr., founder and

Chief Executive Officer of Great Expectations Movement

and a 2009 Upward Bound/ConnCAP alumnus. The clos-

ing ceremony capped off the final week of the program,

which included a student talent show, end-of-the-summer

dance, and a trip to Lake Compounce. There was a palpa-

ble excitement in the air as students arrived at the Student

Union Ballroom to greet their families and friends, and to

enjoy one last morning together before heading home.

The students worked incredibly hard throughout

the summer program. For six weeks, they attended classes

and labs in subjects such as English, Algebra, Biology,

Study Skills, and SAT Prep, aimed at preparing them for

the upcoming academic year. The seniors took a special

College Prep course that helped them begin their college

searches and to start working on college essays and appli-

cations.

Over the course of the summer, the students also

participated in a number of activities outside of the class-

room, including: the annual roller skating trip; college vis-

its to Wesleyan University and Central Connecticut State

University; Thursday Hall of Fames; and after class clubs,

such as football, basketball, dance, and art, to name a few.

Students returning to the program renewed friendships and

reconnected with tutor counselors and teachers; new

students were welcomed into the ConnCAP family and had

their first experience living on a college campus.

In addition to inspiring speeches from Mr. Brook-

shire and Ms. Ciarleglio, students also heard from one of

their peers. Student speaker Paola Hernandez, who is cur-

rently a senior at Hartford Public High School, Law and

Government Academy, spoke of her time in the program

with fondness, noting that it was hard for her to imagine

that she would not be back next summer because of how

much the program had shaped her and helped her over the

years. Javante Danvers, a senior at Great Path Academy,

was also honored at the ceremony. She was the recipient of

the Robin Walker Memorial Award, given to the student

who best exemplifies ConnCAP’s commitment to academic

achievement, leadership, and community service.

Besides Paola and Javante, a number of other stu-

dents were recognized at the ceremony for their achieve-

ment in English, Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, and

Spanish. As the ceremony came to a close, there were a few

tears, many smiles, and even more proud faces as students

met up with their families and friends, posed for pictures,

and had friends and summer faculty and staff sign their lit-

erary magazines. It was a wonderful way to conclude a

great summer and to celebrate the hard work and dedication

of the students.

Summer 2014 Graduation Memories

“Study Hall and tutoring during the sum-

mer helped me prepare in high school

and senior year.”

Leandra Nolette,

Windham High School

Fall 2014 Student Accomplishments


Windham High School students fundraised about $75.00 in one week

for the Windham Area Interfaith Ministry (WAIM) Walk for Warmth. The

fundraiser proceeds benefited the Willimantic Community through

WAIM’s Energy Assistance Program.

Hartford Public and Bulkeley High School students are

currently fundraising for My Sisters’ Place, an organization which

provides a safe environment for homeless women and children.

Nadia Abdul

Jordan-Elijah Baez

Tea-Ani Baez

Domingos Barbosa

Danielle Begin

Khalil Bradley

Omari Brooks

Eric Bueno

Javante Danvers

Zaire Diaz

Javaughnie Edwards

Janckarin Espinal-Mendez

Jennifer Figueroa

Kokoe Folly

Jordan Freeman

Francelis Gonzalez

Jocelyn Gonzalez-Pagan

Paola Hernandez

Michael Hua

Shakera James

Maria Martinez

Tara Mishra

Alondra Morales

Melinda Olszewski

Risher Pena-Gomez

Ronald Pena-Gomez

LaShawnda Phillips

Zuleyma Reynoso

Desiree Rivera

Ashley Rodriguez

Priscilla Shuan

Dion Smith

Nayeliz Sosa

Jenarie Spruielle

Angelique Torres

Jean Vega

Chanell Watkins

Ashley Weaver

Congratulations to All Who Achieved Honor Roll:

Fall 2014 Student Accomplishments

Team Meeting Reminders

Spring Team Meetings will begin:

Windham High School: Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Hartford Public High School: Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Bulkeley High School: Thursday, January 29, 2015

*More Information Will Be Mailed Home During The Break*


FRS 290902

UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT

CONNCAP

CENTER FOR ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

368 FAIRFIELD WAY, U-4170

Phone: 1-800-839-6869

860-486– 4040

Fax: 860-486-4024

Wishing You Joy and Peace this Holiday Season

Documents

University of Connecticut Center for Academic …...University of Connecticut Center for Academic Programs ConnCAP Newsletter Volume VII Issue II Fall 2014 Please Submit to the Newsletter: