With Help, Youths Hope to Be First in Families to Go to College

By Erin Negley, Reading Eagle, Pa.

Jul. 10–Since the day Reading High School senior Rachel E. Orellana watched a Discovery Channel program about King Tut and mummies, she knew she wanted to study archaeology.

Though no one in her family had a college diploma, Orellana set her sights on Brown University, which has an Egyptology department.

But attending the Ivy League school costs $48,660 a year in tuition and other fees.

Orellana said school counselors urged her to apply to Reading Area Community College instead.

"After you hear that for a while, you start having a diminished ego," Orellana recalled.

But the staff at Arbor Education & Training’s college assistance program gave Orellana new hope of being the first in her family to pursue a four-year degree.

They guided Orellana through the maze of financial aid forms and the intricacies of college applications.

She’ll start classes in August at Penn State Berks, with the hope of transferring to the university’s main campus, where she also was accepted.

She still plans to study archaeology and Egyptology.

"There are people out there who will take the time and effort to help you," Orellana said. "They were more supportive than the educational advisers at Reading High."

Orellana was one of 10 Reading High students to receive a $750 scholarship from Arbor recently in a program that helps students from financially disadvantaged homes become the first in their families to go to college.

The first-generation college program is called Stepping Towards Achieving Real Success, or STARS.

Gordon McNamara, director of Arbor education and training in Berks County, said the goal is to assist teens who don’t have the benefit of a family member with experience in pursuing higher education.

"It’s almost like having an extra parent around," said Monica P. Broadnax, the program’s education advocate.

And like a proud parent, Broadnax was nearly in tears when the recent group of Reading seniors received their scholarships at the Arbor office at CareerLink in Reading.

Arbor is a private for-profit contractor working with CareerLink to help young people by providing job training and assistance in career search and job-survival skills.

Broadnax guided Reading students through the college-application process and took them to visit schools. She regularly called them to see how they were doing and to offer help.

If there’s a financial need, the program will pay fees for students to take the SATs or to submit college applications.

Scholarship recipient Nilmarie Mayol started with Teen Works, another Arbor program, last year and was paid to help create a mosaic mural at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts.

Mayol will study graphic arts at Millersville University.

"I want to be somebody in the future," she said. "I want to be rich. I want to buy my parents a house."

Mayol thought college was possible all along, but the Arbor staff helped her navigate the financial-aid process and encouraged her to apply for a $1,000 Ronald McDonald House Charities scholarship, which she received.

Her first year at Millersville will cost $13,000, a bill Mayol will pay with scholarships, financial aid and a loan.

"I want her to go and get an education so she can be a professional," said her mother, Nilda Mayol.

Reading senior Gerardo A.S. Dos Diaz also pieced together the colorful tiles of the GoggleWorks mural.

With his artistic talent and dream of becoming an animator, he was accepted to the Maryland Institute College of Art. Tuition alone was nearly $30,000 a year, so Dos Diaz decided to study fine arts at Kutztown University instead.

Broadnax helped him pursue financial aid and scholarships.

"A high school diploma is nothing," Dos Diaz said. "If you want to get somewhere in life, you go to college.

"I want more than to just work at some place."

Contact reporter Erin Negley at 610-371-5047 or enegley@readingeagle.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Reading Eagle, Pa.

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