“CHAMP creates a vision that college can be a reality for students who may not have previously seen college as an option post high school,”according to the CHAMP mission statement handbook.
The Program CHAMP stands for College Headed and Mighty Proud, a pedagogy that has been around since 1991. This program focuses on helping fourth graders envision the idea of attending college one day.
Graduate student Grecel Mares works as the CHAMP director for the program and does all the background work for the team. She works really hard to coordinate events for the fourth grade students.
Mares believes that the program is a great way for students to explore education beyond the kindergarten-12th grade system. She says the information that they learn during CHAMP helps the students expand their minds towards different educational opportunities.
Mares talks about her experience about being a first generation student and the challenges she faced during her educational journey. “I’m first generation, and I know the struggles that come with that,” she said. Therefore, she wants to help advocate for these fourth graders because most of them would be first generation students as well.
She hopes that the CHAMP program will encourage students to pursue higher education and that they will become leaders either within the Azusa community or in different communities. Mares also hopes to work with college students in the future, and through her work with CHAMP, she is getting a glimpse into the next generation of students she’ll be working with.
As the students continue through the CHAMP program, Mares is excited about helping cultivate a generation that is eager to learn.
Photo of Murray Elementary School Kids Courtesy of Patty Larson
Moriah Holmes has been a service-learning specialist for the Center of Career and Engagement since 2019. She works alongside one graduate and one undergraduate student as she helps them work out the logistics for the CHAMP program. Holmes is in charge of reaching out to Azusa community partners, as she begins to prepare for the fall and spring term of CHAMP
Holmes talks about Azusa Unified School District enthusiasm for the CHAMP program. “Sometimes schools will reach out to us and ask when the CHAMP program is coming back. It’s something that the students really enjoy,” Holmes says.
In addition, this past September, the fourth grade students came to campus for a tour. The tour allows them to imagine what it would be like to attend college one day. Holmes talks about how excited the students were when they saw the dorms. She said that the fourth graders were thrilled when they found out they could decorate their own dorms in the future.
For most of them, they will be the first member in their family to attend college. Therefore, Holmes states that the campus tour allowed them to see college as something more obtainable.
Julissa Salmon is a junior at APU, and she is a liberal science major. Salmon is one of the APU mentors that goes through the CHAMP curriculum with the fourth grade students. She said seeing how enthusiastic they are each week confirms even more that she wants to be a teacher.
Every Tuesday, the mentors head out to Paramount Elementary School where they go through college curriculum with Paramount and Murray students. However, Salmon emphasized the importance of the financial aid section in the curriculum. She said some of them didn’t think college was a possibility because of how expensive it is. However, going over financial aid gave them hope that college could be obtainable one day.
Lastly, before the school year started, she looked at the students’ statistics, and it showed that none of these students’ parents attended college before. “I want to make a difference in one kid’s life, that is my goal,” she said.
Now, she has become a role model for them and a reliable source for when they have questions about college.
Dr. Paul Flores is a part of the School of Education in the Division of Teacher Education, and he talks about the importance of planting the seed for college at a young age. Flores also discusses how he has seen the students benefit from the CHAMP program.
Professor Paul Flores’ Diversity in the Classroom course implements the CHAMP curriculum in their pedagogy. He said that the program was introduced to the classroom in 2003, and he believes his students have benefited from this mode of learning.
In addition, Flores talks about how research has shown that fourth grade is a critical age because that’s when kids decide what they can and cannot do. The term for this is called the fourth grade Syndrome. Flores stated how San Jose State University has published some articles on this condition, and he has read a few articles about it himself. That is why the fourth grade age is the perfect time to teach students about college.
The CHAMP program has proven to be successful throughout its time. There are students that can testify to the program’s accomplishments. “There were around 20 students that I know that came through the CHAMP program, and now they are at APU,” Flores said.
The CHAMP program has given first generation students hope that they can further their academic endeavors as they get older.