Outreach vital for marginalized groups

According to the California Postsecondary Education Commission,
five students from Workman High School in La Puente attended a
University of California campus in 2002. In contrast, Beverly Hills
High, also a public school with a comparable graduating class size,
sent 77 students to a UC school.

In addition, Wilson High in Hacienda Heights sent 78 students to
a UC campus while La Puente High School sent only 13 students.

These disparities in the number of students sent to UC campuses
are found all over the state of California.

Unfortunately, when comparisons are made among the number of
students who apply to and attend California State Universities and
junior colleges from schools like Beverly Hills and Workman,
similar disparities arise. This is the reality of the educational
inequity that persists within our public system.

Fortunately, schools like Workman High are served by programs
such as the Early Academic Outreach Program and the Workman High
Empowerment Project.

These programs were developed to address the K-12 educational
inequity and to provide otherwise under-served students with vital
resources.

These resources attempt to make up for the fact that some
schools located in poorer communities cannot address the
educational needs of their students.

Educational field trips are examples of the essential resources
that programs like the Workman High Empowerment Project offer.

For example, 44 students from Workman identified by their
teachers as having the potential to excel academically but not
achieving their potential were brought to UCLA on Dec. 2.

The aim of this field trip was to show what college has to offer
and the benefits students can enjoy if they work very hard during
high school.

Those who helped out with this event agree that the trip had a
significant impact on students.

However, as stated in the Daily Bruin article “Outreach
programs threatened by deficit” (Dec. 4), the elimination of
outreach programs like EAOP and the Workman High Empowerment
Project is a real possibility.

The Dec. 2 field trip was funded by the Student Initiated
Outreach Committee ““ an entity that also might not exist next
year.

As students at this university and future leaders of not only
California but the United States as well, we cannot allow outreach
programs to be eliminated.

I urge everyone to get involved and join the immediate efforts
to secure funding for outreach programs. Let’s recognize our
positions of privilege and fulfill our responsibility to the less
fortunate ““ the marginalized communities of our state.

We must remember the words of Malcolm X, “If you are not
part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”

Do your part to create a more just, humane and democratic
society.

Support this cause by calling and e-mailing your legislators,
signing petitions and voicing your concerns. If you desire to
become actively involved in these efforts, approach your student
government representative or the Affirmative Action Coalition here
at UCLA.

Lopez is a fourth-year political science student.