Thanks for joining us for the another collaborative episode of Patrons & Partnerships, presented by the Library Partnership Branch of the Alachua County Library District and Santa Fe College.
Every other month, the second episode of the month will be an interview with Santa Fe staff meant to highlight a notable program or outreach effort by the college. This month, we spoke about the SF Achieve program with Quinten Eyman, the Director of Admissions, and two of the program’s pre-college advisors, Terrell Jenkins and David Durkee. We talk about the purpose and benefits of the program, the reception from the community so far, and how parents and students can sign up for SF Achieve.
SF Achieve at Santa Fe: https://www.sfcollege.edu/achieve
Visit the Alachua County Library District website to browse our collection and to find other resources and services offered at your favorite, local library!
You can view a transcript of this podcast on ACLD's YouTube Channel.
Thanks for joining us for the another collaborative episode of Patrons & Partnerships, presented by the Library Partnership Branch of the Alachua County Library District and Santa Fe College.
Every other month, the second episode of the month will be an interview with Santa Fe staff meant to highlight a notable program or outreach effort by the college. This month, we spoke about the SF Achieve program with Quinten Eyman, the Director of Admissions, and two of the program’s pre-college advisors, Terrell Jenkins and David Durkee. We talk about the purpose and benefits of the program, the reception from the community so far, and how parents and students can sign up for SF Achieve.
SF Achieve at Santa Fe: https://www.sfcollege.edu/achieve
Visit the Alachua County Library District website to browse our collection and to find other resources and services offered at your favorite, local library!
You can view a transcript of this podcast on ACLD's YouTube Channel.
Hi, thanks for joining us for another collaborative episode between Patrons & Partnerships and Santa Fe College. Today we spoke about the SF Achieve program with Quinten Eyman, the Director of Admissions, and two of the program’s pre-college advisors, Terrell Jenkins and David Durkee. SF Achieve is Santa Fe’s new scholarship and advising program for high school students in Alachua and Bradford Countywhich provides students with assistance right inside their schools.[music]
Eleanore:Good morning. Would you mind introducing yourselves and your program?
Quinten:Sure, I'll start. First, thank you for having us today. My name is Quinten Eyman. I'm the Director of Student Recruitment in our new SF Achieve program at Santa Fe College. And that's what we're here to talk about today is SF Achieve, which is a mentorship/scholarship program that literally takes our college employees - our staff, our college coaches - and puts them in local high schools to work directly with 9 through 12, from freshmen to seniors in high school, to get them to understand what college is all about, to get them on the right track. The entire goal of SF Achieve is to help bolster a college-going culture in our community. Santa Fe College is very much focused on making sure that students make the right decisions they need to make about college. It's not even so much coming to Santa Fe - we know that's a great opportunity for a lot of people and we're, we're there to talk about that - but we want to make sure that students make intellectually-based decisions, and take some of the barriers that are in their way out of their way. And a couple of people joining us today to talk about that are our SFC specialists, and I'll let them introduce themselves now.
David:Hi, my name is David Durkee. I am one of the aforementioned SF Achieve specialists. The specialists are assigned a few high schools that we work almost all of our time in, and I have had the pleasure of working in Eastside, Lofton, PK Young, and Alachua e-schools.
Terrell:And I'm Terrell Jenkins, and I'm working with Bradford County High School, Hawthorne High - Middle/High, and also A. Quinn Jones and Department of Juvenile Justice. And we also back up David and some of his schools. So we have a pretty good partnership there where we help students throughout the connected communities that we serve. So it's been pretty cool being able to do that and get out to the community and, and just help out a lot of people.
Eleanore:Would you mind telling us a little bit more about the program? How long has it been in existence? This is a fairly new program, right?
Quinten:It is. We got a start in November of 2021, I guess, last year - I'm not sure what day it is today. It's an agreement and a partnership between Santa Fe College and Alachua County Public Schools and Bradford County Public Schools as well. It took a little time to work out some of the specific details of what it would mean to have our staff in the schools and how we would share data in terms of the students there. We don't - we're not focused on student grades. We don't need a lot of personal information about students. But it's basically to make sure that we understand that as I said earlier that students are sort of going in the right direction. So SF Achieve is still very young. We're looking forward to starting our second year in schools, even though we didn't get a full school year last year, when schools restart in a couple of weeks on August 10th. David and Terrell and our other SF Achieve specialists will be there to help meet students, to help tell them more about why we're there. And part of our goal is to integrate into school culture. And I think certainly Terrell and David can speak more specifically to that than I can. But we want to be seen as a resource. And we've worked very hard to make sure the schools understand that, but also the students and their parents. Everybody who influences the decision that those students make about whether they're going to go to college or not. We want to have Terrell and David and their colleagues in SF Achieve working in our communities, meeting with church leaders, going to community centers, any place that students and parents and families are going to be so they can understand more about what the program is all about.
Eleanore:What does a typical day look like for one of the SFC specialists? Are you always going to the campuses? Are you just available for people to contact online or over the phone?
David:I think that that's going to depend on the individual specialist and also the school that they're serving. It can look very different in each school, because kind of like Quinten was saying, is that we are there to kind of integrate into whatever that culture is and find the best way to serve the students and the faculty and the, and the community in that area. So one school, you know, I'm there, for example, some of my time at Eastside, two days a week. I would come in in the morning, you know, they knew essentially I have a posted schedule. So the students know I'm there. I have a list of students that I know want to see me. I’m actually in the counselor's office in that particular area. So the counselors are meeting with a student and they want to say hey, you know, what have you thought about kind of the next step? And maybe they'll come and have a conversation with me. On top of that I have students that I'm reaching out to, writing passes, we’re very kind of integrated into the culture. If the school is hosting an event or doing a function, a lot of times, I'll just be there as another hand on deck, so to speak, to, to help out with that, and just kind of serve in that way. But not every school is going to look the same way. And I think Terrell, as much work as he does in the community, has some other ways that he helps his schools.
Terrell:Right, that is very true, David. I remember, starting out early on at a football game tabling in Hawthorne was one of the first big things that I did trying to promote Achieve and kind of establish myself as a familiar face to the community, which is a huge part of what we're doing, community and family support and interest. And those things are definitely a huge part of it. But daily in the schools, it’s just different, depends on the school and the day, different vibes. And like any community, there's going to be differences. I mean, obviously, some things are going to be similar in communities, but the schools have their own pace, their own vibes, and you know, certain things going on. So it's important just to connect with everybody and be a part of the family. That's my approach and what I wanted to be seen as just, you know, a part of their, you know, family that they already have. So the days could be spent in classroom visits, which I really enjoy just being able to get into the classrooms and talk about - and my theme, I guess my motto that I was bringing in was like, I want to have more conversations than presentations. Especially where we came in, during the school year, it’s important to hear where the kids were - and also the teachers, kind of like where they were helping them, what they were helping them with and things like that. And being able to just see how I can be the best listener and then help students get to where they need to go as far as accessing information about scholarships, or just maybe exploring ideas about possible majors and careers, or even facilitating campus visits to the college. So all of those things could happen on a daily basis. But then as we got going during the year, it was more detailed as far as some of the information on the scholarship and helping the students apply for those and, and it kind of grew, too. And that was a neat thing, because there are so many different people and organizations and stuff on the campuses and we were able to partner with them as the year went along. One thing in Hawthorne, we did like three days of scholarship and Santa Fe College applications. And that was a partnership with the EOC that they have at Santa Fe, so that was pretty cool. And then Upward Bound and Education Talent Search are really huge for me in the schools that I work with. So some of the days were spent with sitting in on some of the classes and meetings and just seeing how we can be a part of helping bring things together so the students could be able to earn a scholarship and then use it after they graduated. So, days could look like a lot of different things - and then the events, like David mentioned, so it can get, get pretty, pretty interesting.
Eleanore:And what has the reception from the community been? From parents and teachers, and students themselves?
Terrell:That was one of the things I really enjoyed where I was located. Because you think of those communities like Bradford County, Hawthorne, A. Quinn has got its own vibe, too. So the community is really - I was surprised, like I would be out places and people would talk about Achieve. They already knew about it or something about it, which is pretty cool, so the messaging was getting out there. And it was just really interesting that people kind of already had just like, this idea about what was going on. So they were really, really supportive in promoting Achieve and all those types of things. So yeah, it was really good. David: Um -
Quinten:Just to put some numbers on it, too, Eleanore - forgive me for interrupting David - we had more than 700 students sign up directly to be part of SF Achieve this year. And that doesn't include students who we already knew through our high school dual enrollment program and students who we'd had other contact with. And that doesn't mean that all those students are going to end up coming to college at Santa Fe. But it means that they are looking at college. They are focused on, what are my options and where do I want to go. And part of what this whole program is meant to do is to have those conversations, like Terrell mentioned. We want to talk to those students who aren't sure if college is right for them. And we're not there to convince them that it is, but we're there to help them realize, okay, these are the perceived barriers that we can put to the side. And here's are the, here are the real challenges. And the real challenges might be their grades, it might - whatever they are, we want the conversation to be real. And we want it to be a real intellectual decision. And I don't mean that academically. I mean, I want them to make the decision about going to college because it's the right choice for them to make, not because they're worried about the money, not because they're worried they're not going to do well. There are enormous resources that we have to help students do well. So some of it is just to make sure we can take some of that stigma away from what college is like. And in part in doing that is the SF Achieve scholarship provides every student a book stipend of $400 if they enroll full time in the college. They do come to Santa Fe, and they've gone through the SF Achieve program in high school, they get that book stipend. And for those students who still have financial need after they might get various federal grants, they might get other scholarships, if there's still some unmet need, there's a scholarship that will kick in to help pay the difference. Now, not every student will need that scholarship, but every student is going to get that book stipend, and that $400 really can go a long way to help a student make the decision of you know, okay, maybe the money is not the impediment I think it is. And we can think about other things.
David:And I was just gonna say, because we've been talking a lot about college, and obviously, Santa Fe College is a college, but the term is kind of shrouded in mystery for high school students. And so a lot of what we do on top of talking about resources is saying like, hey, college is - and Terrell likes to really put it this way, and I like it - is just opportunity. Let's talk about opportunities after high school. And college can be, you know, a four year liberal arts degree. But it can also be construction trades or it can be an EMT certificate program. It can be culinary school, it can be, you know, truck driving, it can be just whatever that kind of next opportunity for the student to leave high school with something that's going to kind of better their situation. And like he said, we're not here to push Santa Fe College. We have a lot of great opportunities, and for a lot of students it's going to be the natural landing place for them. But if their interests take them elsewhere, we're super excited to help them go where they’re trying to go.
Eleanore:And I think it's important that you guys let students know that these opportunities are out there, that even if they don't go to Santa Fe, they can look for scholarships and programs like the trade programs that are available to them. They don't have to necessarily hop right into college and pay everything out of pocket or go straight into a trade and start from the ground up and hope somebody will train them. How many people are working in the SF Achieve department now? Is it just the three of you?
Quinten:No, we've got about a total of six. And we'll be adding a few more, which is good news. We're going to be able to spend more time with students and more time with schools and not stretch David and Terrell and their colleagues who are working directly in schools quite as much, as I think we've twisted them around. And I think David's in the shape of a pretzel now for how many different schools and student cultures he's had to learn and adapt to. But that's part of what we do. We're trying to be nimble, we're trying to be agile, we're working to recognize that those conversations that Terrell mentioned, you know, are so important. People tune out the presentation. They tune out the jargon, they tune out the stuff that doesn't relate directly to them. And being able to have those direct conversations - that's one thing that's been remarkable to me about the program, particularly now that we are in such a digital age and certainly, hopefully, if we are coming out of COVID or if we're out of it, we're still in a digital-first world. But students, young people, who many of whom may live their whole world on TikTok, still want to sit down and have in some cases a brief and in some cases a longer one-to-one in person conversation about things. It's a comfort mechanism if nothing else. Part of what we try to do is take information, combine it with inspiration to bolster aspiration. Now, that's very poetic. But the reality is, you know, we're not trying to tell students what to do, we're just trying to, again, open their eyes to the fact that they can look a little more broadly, they can think a little more significantly about where they want to go and what they want to do.
Terrell:Right. That's great points, Quinten. And also to kind of reflect back on what Eleanore was saying about the different programs and options. And that's one thing that is important for maybe all of us, but to remember is that the pre-college advising part of it is still huge. Even though we're focusing on the Achieve as maybe the pathway that makes things possible, but we're still doing a lot of pre-college advising. And so we're able to have those conversations about different options not only at Santa Fe College, but you know, what a particular program can look like and things like that to help students - and families too, because we speak with a lot of parents in our roles - and to help them see what the program actually looks like and how it could play out in the working world and and stuff like that.
Eleanore:So you're working with Alachua County and Bradford County schools right now. With the addition of extra staff, are you hoping to expand to further counties in the future?
Quinten:No, we're limited to what's referred to as our service district for the college. All of the state colleges in the Florida system have a certain service district. So we service Alachua and Bradford County, so we know we're going to be limited to those counties. And we're, we're really focused now on the public schools. Part of the requirements of SF Achieve is for students to graduate with a standard public high school diploma. So we recognize that there are some students that aren't included in that - some students that might be in private schools, they might be in a private charter. They might be in a religious school. And although we can't kind of funnel those students into SF Achieve, there are so many scholarships available through the Santa Fe College Foundation. There's so many other opportunities. We still work very hard with those students to make sure that they get, one, all the financial aid and all the pre-college advising assistance, as the guys have been talking about, that are really, really required. So for us, expansion is about the amount of time that we can spend per student, the amount of, of, say, effort, but the, the number of connections we can continue to make in the community. It's about relationship building, it's not about - there's certainly an enrollment component for us. We want students to come to the college. Enrollment matters to us. But we celebrate when a student gets into UF and goes to UF, or a student goes to Harvard, or a student goes to, you know, the University of Illinois or wherever they want to go. And one of the things SF Achieve does is it includes an online course, which is really about college preparedness, college awareness. It's about - as David was talking about too - demystifying what college is about. You know, students, when they complete that course, the course itself and its completion as a senior is one of the requirements of the SF Achieve scholarship. But if a student just completes the course and really doesn't decide they want to go to Santa Fe College, they're going to learn more about how to deal with professors in college, how it differs from high school. They're going to have the opportunity to come to a college fair, to do a college visit, and to start learning more about what is different between what they've experienced and what they can experience through college. And that's, that's enormous for young people. I'm a parent, I have a daughter in college and a daughter in high school. And their generation, one, they want to hear from others. They're very peer oriented. That’s what social media is about. And we recognize that as more students are involved in SF Achieve, as more students are focused on college, that that can be some critical mass that can really build and that's where the growth happens. That's where the expansion happens. If we can get 10 more students to go to college, you know, if we can get 15 more students to decide, you know what, I'm gonna go ahead and get a certificate and go into welding or go into construction or go into a line of work that can make them a great living, and maybe someday own their own business down the line. So you know, I - we're hoping that we've got a program here that will long outlast us. And we know it will, because we're here to stay. And that will be a really significant part of a lot of lives for a long time.
Eleanore:That's fantastic. You're really trying to set students up to achieve, as the title says, whether it's at Santa Fe or not. So for parents and students who aren't on campuses that you're currently visiting, how can they get involved with this program?
Quinten:Our website for the Achieve program is sfcollege.edu/achieve. We also have an email, direct email, which is achieve@sfcollege.edu. So any parents or students who are interested can certainly reach out to us. We have - are planning a number of events to start the school year at each individual school. So I would certainly highly recommend that parents or students who are interested can go to their counselors at their school. Terrell and David, for instance, and their colleagues work very closely with the guidance counselors at each high school. And they can certainly get some information there. We have a middle school program as well. We're not embedded with staff in middle schools. But we have a middle school specialist who also works with all of the middle schools, and specifically eighth graders who - we are working on a program that would transport them to one of our campuses so they could have a day to experience what college is like as well. And all of that information is available again on that website, which is sfcollege.edu/achieve.
Terrell:I would just like to add and let people know that like, signing up for the Achieve once you go to the website, whether it's via QR code or whatever way is pretty kind of simple. So hopefully that will encourage people who are kind of thinking about it and maybe anticipate some long process that it’s really not. So I definitely encourage them to go ahead and apply and getting, you know, in our system for the program, because a lot of benefits for it.
David:Yeah, and also, just to kind of go on what he was saying, it's a simple process, and it's a non-committing process. You know, it's - you get on there, you sign up, that basically just gives you access to those resources, like Quentin was talking about the Canvas course. It puts you on the specialist’s radar as far as to make sure we're reaching out to that student and make sure that the student has the opportunity to have those conversations and gain that direction. And yeah, at any point in time if the student decides, hey, you know, not really interested in this, they can ask to be removed from it. Even though being on it isn't like a commitment to come to Santa Fe or even participate in the program. It's just opening a door to the opportunity and to the resources that are there.
Eleanore:And for students who aren't going to campuses that you attend in person, is there a way for them to set up an in-person meeting with either of you? Say if like a student is homeschooled and they want to be part of the program, do they still have an opportunity to meet with an advisor face-to-face?
Terrell:Oh, yeah. Yeah, we've actually had - those type of situations have - I get like phone calls, email, I’ve even gotten Facebook Messenger connections. So yeah, lots of different ways, but we're very accommodating.
Eleanore:Did you have any upcoming events or application deadlines that you think parents and students should know about?
Quinten:The, uh - event-wise - we are planning, we don't have it scheduled yet - what will likely be a workshop for parents and for students to learn more about Achieve in one place. We had a very successful - going back to the question about how COVID affected us - when we did get started in schools in the fall rather than having, like, a big event on one of our campuses, we had a digital workshop, where particularly parents, but students as well, were able to get more information about the program and sort of about the college going process in general. We're planning to do that again. I don't have anything specifically scheduled just yet. Our priorities right now is, we're still working with those students who finished the program last year and are working toward enrolling at the college this fall, because we stay with them when they reach Santa Fe College when they take advantage of this book stipend and the scholarship. We pair them with mentors on our campus, faculty and staff mentors. Just as David and Terrell served as mentors for them in high school, we give them a staff or faculty member here on our campus or one of our campuses, one of our centers, who - they don't answer all the questions. They're just a point of contact if a student is sort of flummoxed and not sure who to turn to and what questions to ask, they've got somebody to do that with. So we're focused on some of those students right now and focused for those students who are returning to high school or those students who are going to be freshmen this year in high school, getting a good start with their schools, and with those students this fall, when classes resume for the high schools in literally two weeks.Two weeks from yesterday day, they’ll be back. So that will be an opportunity for us to get a sense of where the high schools are and where those students are going to be, and particularly those who are coming back. We have 250-300 students who signed up for Achieve last year as freshmen, sophomores and juniors, so they don't have to sign up again. We're with them now as they rise to a new grade. And so we've, we've got a lot of irons in that fire.
Eleanore:You were talking a lot about the organizations you partner with earlier - is there anyone in particular you wanted to talk about?
Quinten:Again, I'll start and then hand it off to these guys, because what we've tried to do is to connect not just with sort of community-wide organizations - like, we have a great relationship with Take Stock In Children and the Alachua County Education Foundation. They've been a great partner, we've worked with some of their coaches, one on sort of training and, and one because they serve an awful lot of students who, you know, we may be hosting as part of SF Achieve as well. But also getting to those groups that really are there to support an individual school. You know, Terrell in particular has worked in Bradford County and in Hawthorne, where you have, you know, schools that are in specific communities, and those communities are very significant in terms of how those schools operate and vice versa. You know, David’s schools are a little different in terms of being in a part of Gainesville at large and where those schools will pull from. Certainly Lofton High School and Eastside are good examples of that. So I'll turn it over to the guys to talk about some of the groups that you've been to - I, Terrell was talking about PTAs at schools, you know, to me, that's a community/school community kind of group that we're really working very closely with, but I'll let them chime in with more.
David:Yeah, I think that there's definitely some community organizations and stuff that we've kind of started some conversations with and some other groups that are focused on like helping students. Outside of that, aside from just the community partners, one of the things that we do, whether they're coming to Santa Fe or not, is connect students with those resources, whether it's in the community, or on our campus or another campus, to kind of help with whatever they're going through. One of the things that I think has been a great resource for me and for the students has been our Career Exploration Center with Jimmy Yawn, who - you know, all those students. I mean, I didn't know what I wanted to do in high school, and I didn't have the benefit of having a college representative there to kind of help me go through it, but that's exactly what he does is he sets up these one-on-ones and gives them these different tests and surveys and stuff and just has conversations with them to kind of help them come out the other side as far as to find opportunities that are going to serve them. It could be, you know, a particular club or instruction you know, engineering. I have a lot of interest in engineering. Well, then let me connect you to this group that serves kind of the type of student you want to be, so. I think I've done a lot more of the school connections. But I know that Terrell has done a lot more like as far as within the community, so I'll turn it over to him.
Terrell:Yeah, as far as the community and partnerships, there's opportunities for just about anyone in our community to be involved, being able to donate and support the scholarships would be a great thing. Mrs. MacKenzie Scott got us rolling, and I guess some others, but to be able to have donors and people involved in supporting scholarships will only help everyone involved. Working with groups and organizations who support and work with families, because the libraries are near and dear to my heart, because I'm the son of a retired Library Manager and the Library Partnership, Partnership for Strong Families have been really great partners of mine. If nothing else, the people that Partnership for Strong Families is connected to, different organizations, so being a part of those meetings I'm able to connect with could be 15 or 30 different organizations at a particular meeting. So that's helpful to get this message out, but also hearing what people are needing in the community, too. So partnerships with those who are working with and serving families is huge. And then also employers because we have the mentorship relationships that we have, but also seeking to be able to connect our scholars to potential job or internship opportunities. So our partnerships with employers will be huge. And I feel like more of an athletics relationships that we can get going, because there's lots of stuff - like, everybody ain’t going to the NBA or NFL. So being able to show these kids that there's different opportunities, you can still go and be great. So working with them more, I think with athletics related, and especially outside of the schools, because of AAU and different, you know, athletics teams and stuff going on all over throughout our county. So that would be an opportunity for some really good and meaningful partnerships as well.
Eleanore:The last question I have for you guys - is there anything that we didn't talk about that you think is important for listeners to know?
Terrell:We talked about it maybe and I mentioned a couple of times, but I really, really like to emphasize the fact that parent and community interest and support is huge. Because the students, they don't always know or may not always care. I mean, because what teenagers cares about like a scholarship until they need it? But being able to have them hear about this opportunity, and opportunities in general outside of just us is huge, because I've been able to see how parents are kind of maybe sometimes dragging the kid along, but we have this meeting, and they are able to get something out of it that's in their best interest, so again, if we can just have this much community and family interest and support and, and all of that, would definitely only be a good thing.
David:And I think one thing I would maybe take away from this is that this program is designed to help everyone. If you are a student in one of the schools that we serve, then we are for you regardless of kind of where you think you fall on the spectrum of going to college, not going to college, I think everyone, everyone wants the opportunity. No one wants to have to do something whether they like it or not. They like options, and they like opportunities. And that's a lot of what we do in those conversations and in those connections that we make for students is help them so you know, if you're, if it's - if it's a student that's listening to this and be like, Oh, I don't know, it's like college, maybe like, no, just, let's talk, let's let's start that conversation and let's find some great opportunities for you. One of the things that I think is really awesome about this, these scholarship funds, if they do decide to come to Santa Fe, is that there's not a GPA requirement. If you finish with your diploma from the high school, it’s there. There's no test score requirement, you don't have to get a certain ACT score, SAT score, any of that stuff. It's basically Hey, you persist, you finish high school, do what you need to do there, and we're going to kick in and help you if you decide to come to Santa Fe monetarily. But we're going to help you wherever you're trying to go. And like, though we have money for Santa Fe, I actively - if someone says hey, I'm interested in this school, it's like, okay, we look at the school, we look at the requirements to get in. And then the next, the very next step is okay, well, what scholarships are offered over there? How do we apply for those scholarships? What information do we need to make these applications happen? And then we start that process. So even though we might not - Santa Fe might not pay for the student to go to another school, I'm going to help them find money, again, so they're not taking on a financial burden doing so.
Quinten:And I think for me, in kind of dovetailing on what both Terrell and David mentioned, Terrell was talking about the importance of family support. Not every student has that. David was talking about the program being for everybody, it is for everybody. But it's also and maybe even more importantly, it's for those students who don't have that support at home or don't have that knowledge at home. You know, they may potentially be first generation college students, they may have a single parent at home who works three jobs who doesn't know how to help with a college application, who doesn't know how to do how to do the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which is the key to getting billions of federal dollars in financial aid for students. And for them, they haven't grown up in a culture and in an environment where college was a given. So we want to talk to those students, we want to sit down with them, we want to find out what is relevant to them. We want to find out what their dreams and goals are. They may not play in the NBA, as Terrell said. They may not become a CEO overnight and develop the next new app. But maybe they will. And going to college provides that golden ticket to give them a broader sense of what's possible. And I know again, that sounds very esoteric, but - and I think these guys will back me up - when you sit in a room with somebody and you tell them, it's not going to, you're not going to have to go get a second job to go to college, you don't have to go to college for four or more years to get where you say you want to go. And by going and doing this particular program and listening and getting some information, and then taking the next steps themselves and being empowered to do so, you can get here. And as long as we're authentic about it, and we're honest about it, which as these guys will tell you, we are, students listen. And they take that home. So parents, even parents who are supportive and may not kind of get the whole college process. And we want to start those conversations, we want to have those conversations. And we want this to be a launching pad from where they are to where they want to go. And it can be that, it really can. And we're very enthusiastic to be able to help one student at a time, as many as possible, as many minutes and hours as there are in the day.
Terrell:To go off of what you were just saying about that launching pad, to really show the value of that, like how meaningful that is for families to have that idea that they do have a launching pad, that they do have something that can be better, was our signing days. When you saw the pure joy in the families and the students - like, they felt like not only this scholarship, like, football athletes are going to sign and go somewhere out to college, but I am too. And my mom might have a business or my dad never went to college, and I'm seeing what their life is like, but I have a chance now to go and do something. And that something may change because, you know, kids are young. But at that moment where they're signing up to have a scholarship, it’s like they have hope. And that's one of the more powerful things that we can experience as people, and to be able to be a part of that through this program has been huge to see a kid that may have thought that they didn't have any hope for anything beyond high school at the beginning of the year, and now on signing day they're in tears almost because they had this piece of paper saying that I have an opportunity to go to Santa Fe College and do something. And that's just - that made it all worth it for me, every single thing that we did throughout the year, it was those signing days and just seeing what it meant to those families.
Eleanore:Thank you guys so much for the work that you do. This program is absolutely amazing. I'm boggled by the resources available to college-bound kids these days. Thank you so much for giving us an hour of your time. This was an excellent interview. I really look forward to editing this.
Terrell:Well, thank you. Appreciate the opportunity. Quinten: Thanks so much.
Eleanore:Thank you guys. David: Thanks so much.
Quinten:Take care. Eleanore: Have a good day.[music] Thanks so much for listening to Patrons & Partnerships. We hope you enjoyed this special episode! Our next collaborative episode with Santa Fe will most likely post on October 27th. We'll be speaking with Tyran Butler, the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Career and Technical Education. We'll see you then.