Dundee-Crown's Adelante opens door to college for Latino students

Dundee-Crown High School senior Araceli Ortiz always knew it was her parents' dream that she get a good education, but there was little they could do to help financially.

"Your parents want to help you, but they can't, and that's the situation a lot of us are in," said Araceli, whose mother works as a housekeeper and whose father works in a factory.

When she starts classes at Loyola University in Chicago this fall, the 17-year-old will be the first in her family to go to college, thanks to the help she received from the Adelante program for Latino juniors and seniors at the Carpentersville school, she said.

The program, which began in 2008 and is sending its first participants off to college, takes students on a spring field trip to local college during their junior year, and then a summer college field trip. Throughout their senior year, students get help in applying to schools and navigating financial aid and scholarship opportunities, said Dundee-Crown guidance counselor Ann DiCosola, who co-sponsors the program with ESL teachers Juan Suarez and Celeste Breslow.

To qualify for Adelante, students must have a minimum 2.5 GPA and have expressed a desire to continue their education beyond high school.

"I learned a lot (through Adelante)," she said. "It's a great program for first-generation students whose parents never went to school. They break it down for you, and they get you on the right track."

Araceli earned a $20,000 scholarship for her first year at Loyola, and, if she keeps her grades up, she'll be eligible to apply again each year. Araceli also applied for federal financial aid, although she doesn't know yet how much she will qualify for, she said.

Dundee-Crown provides support for college-bound students of all ethnicities, but Latino students, most of whom are first-generation, need extra help because of the specific challenges they face, DiCosola said.

Their parents are unfamiliar with the U.S. school system and are often leery of allowing their children to go away to college, she said. The biggest obstacle is financial, especially in the current economy, she said.

"The big push is financial aid," she said. "We have guest speakers from colleges all the time, plus we have them do one-on-one work with the parents, because financial aid is a very personal matter."

ESL students are also strongly encouraged to go to college, said ESL teacher Juan Suarez.

"We tell the students, 'Just because you don't speak English, it doesn't mean you can't go to college,'" said Suarez, a Mexican native who said he struggled through his four years at Western Illinois University. "Ultimately, it all comes down to the motivation that we give these kids. We tell them, 'Go to college, keep learning, keep pushing yourself, and you will improve your language.'"

Adelante senior Misael Huerta went from attending Dundee-Crown's ESL program his freshman and sophomore years to earning a $40,000 a year scholarship to attend the University of Redlands, in California, this fall.

"I came here to live with my uncle, and my parents and my brothers stayed in Mexico," he said. "My dad works hard for me, and I don't want to let him down."

The first group of graduating Adelante seniors is made up of 56 students, of whom about two-thirds plan to further their education, either via vocational school, a junior college or a 4-year institution, DiCosola said.

The percentage of Adelante students who will continue with school after graduation mirrors statistics for Dundee-Crown's student population as a whole, she acknowledged. However, the number of Latinos taking part in Adelante is growing, with 29 percent of Latino students involved this year, compared to next year's 38 percent.

"We are definitely making a difference," she said. "We also want the seniors to come back and do leadership development, workshops and college panels. This is building leadership for self, for school and for community."