FRESNO - "How many of you are going to college?" asked Jessie Ryan, associate director of the Campaign for College Opportunity, as she spoke to a room full of middle school students.
Students' hands shot up in response.
It was exactly the reaction she was looking for.
The Campaign for College Opportunity and the California Department of Education are working together to reach students at a young age and encourage them to set their sigths on college.
Last Friday morning, a group of middle school students took the first step toward achieving a college education by signing the "Save Me a Spot in College" pledge at an event at Terronez Middle School in southeast Fresno.
The pledge, part of the state's new Early Commitment to College program, affirms a student's intention to work hard in school and take the necessary steps to graduate from high school.
If the student upholds his end of the deal, the state will guarantee the student admission to a state college or university and provide any necessary financial assistance.
The program addresses the fact that in California, the number of young people of a college-going age is increasing rapidly, while the capacity of the state's community colleges and public universities is not growing at the same rate.
The program also strives to make higher education accessible to all students, by demystifying the college-going process and erasing misconceptions about the prohibitive costs of college, according to Ryan.
The initiative is particularly important in the country's 20th congressional district, which includes Fresno, where just 6.5 percent of adults have a college degree. The district is ranked last in the country in residents' well-being, due to high poverty rates, poor health, and low graduation rates.
The program is also crucial in school districts like Fresno Unified, where more than 60 percent of students are Latino. According to a study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, among 18-24 year olds, Latinos are most likely to have no high school diploma and least likely to have entered college.
The program will "have an important impact on our collegegoing culture," Valerie Davis, president of the Fresno Unified Board of Education, told the middle school students.
It has already made an impact on Terronez seventh grader Jonathan Fernandez. Fernandez earned a $500 scholarship on Friday morning, just for having signed the pledge and having his name entered in a drawing.
Fernandez said he plans to go to college because it "opens more windows to life" and "makes it easier to make more money."
Fernandez, who is interested in becoming a rocket scientist, said the program has already proved to him that students "don't have to worry about paying for college."
