Life After High School

Success looks differently for everybody. And today we are discussing the different options students have in choosing their path to adulthood. And I'm joined today by a program manager of College and Career Services, Dr. Sergio Flores, and his colleague, Adina Silva, an academic counselor who works directly with our students in exploring their options and preparing for high school graduation.

Music by DayFox from Pixabay - Salangseuleoun

Transcript

Cecilia  00:09

Hello and welcome parents to parenting with passion. I'm your host Cecilia Holguin, the Family Engagement Manager for SBCSS. And today we are diving into life after high school. So success looks differently for everybody. And today we are discussing the different options students have in choosing their path to adulthood. And I'm joined today by a program manager of College and Career Services, Dr. Sergio Flores, and his colleague, Adina Silva, an academic counselor who works directly with our students in exploring their options and preparing for high school graduation.

Adina  00:48

Thank you for having us. 

Sergio  00:50

Thank you for having us really looking forward to engaging with parents to this podcast. And hopefully we can see parents at our schools in person in the future. 

Adina  01:00

Yes, that would be great. 

Cecilia  01:00

So juniors and seniors, of high school, you know, it's really a tough time for them. And as they prepare to leave the life that they've known for so long, right there, they're getting kind of pushed right into adulthood. They have a lot of anxiety with that. So my first question for you guys is can you really describe some of the behaviors, parents may identify from their their teens who are experiencing this type of anxiety?

Adina  01:27

So that is such a good question. And totally normal for parents and their students or children to experience. I feel like a lot of times, one of the major things that comes up is, could seem like it's a lack of motivation. Sometimes it can come off, like, I don't have a desire to do anything, I'm just graduated, I'm done, I need a break. And then that might be okay for like a week or two. But then sometimes as parents want them to kind of jump in there, and hey, let's see what your plans are. What's next. But really, that could come through as isolation and might be a little bit of like, procrastination, and might seem pretty common for students to feel disconnected from, like those around them. Because they might not be in that same space, or they're expected to be necessarily so it could feel a little bit of, you know, frustration on both ends on that. 

Cecilia  02:23

Yeah, there is a lot of expectations on them, I'm sure. So how can a parent support their child through that? Is there anything that they can do to help them a little bit more during this process?

Adina  02:34

Absolutely. So the main thing is being open to that conversation. I think the hardest thing is, like, if you or I or Dr. Flores, like if we mess up or we, you know, forget to follow up on an email that we should have done or something. The main thing is like, sometimes we might feel embarrassed that that happened, but really just being open and saying, Hey, like, it happens to me, too. It's totally fine. What can I do to support, that would probably be the best thing. Right? So being able to just jump in and have that open conversation saying, Hey, I've been in the situation too, or I may not know exactly what you're going through, but I'm here to support you, things like that just being open, that vulnerability really creates an open line of communication, where we don't feel ashamed or embarrassed, necessarily, by the feelings that we're going through.

Cecilia  03:28

Right, right. And I know a lot of times our teenagers, they really show that feeling with anger. Right? They don't know how to cope with that. So that's their go to. So I'd say also, like, be patient, you know, and, you know, identify that feeling and help them identify that feeling. And work through that. I think that's, that's all helpful. Thank you. So how can parents learn about all the great college and career options for their students? Because it can be overwhelming for our parents, even for our students to Yeah, but as a parent, how do we help them identify all the options?

04:04

Well, um, I think it's very important that we, the parents, I mean, the question prior to this was the anxiety that students feel and then just just the overall, sometimes overwhelming feelings that happened at home. And once once you have that conversation at home, with your child, it's important to to continue that same conversation at the school. What we find a lot of times with, with students in high school and middle school is they behave differently at home than they do at school. And having an agreement that we're going to go to the school and we're going to look into those resources with school leaders or with counselor such as Miss Silva, then have that continue that open communication at the, at the school. So come in, make an appointment to see the counselor and talk about hey, look, my child is getting ready to graduate and we would like some guidance is free from you on, you know, options that there are, there are there are many options. And I think it begins with asking the student what he or she is interested in. That's always what we do. That's what colleges are going to do. That's what different certification programs are going to do is, what are you interested in the last thing we want, because it happens a lot, even with students that think they're prepared that are, you know, high GPAs, getting into top level colleges and universities, they often change your major after two years or three years. So that can happen, that happens to all of us. But we want to try to come into it as prepared as possible by capitalizing on student's interests and what they're good at. So I think that's one of the first things we need to do is identify those interests in those strengths. Come in, see our counselors, our counselors will give your child individual time because we do college and career counseling for all of our students. So a lot of times, they already have a pretty good idea of what they're good at, we do all these different college and career inventories interest inventory, so the students will have an idea, but come in and get some individual time for you and your child. We do offer college fairs, we recently went on some college fairs and college visits, we recently went on a college visit to the local community colleges that are here within our county, we went to three different visits. And we'll do more of this coming spring, which is just a few months away or a few weeks away, actually. So it's important to go to those fairs and know what you're looking for, not just visit the campus, but go in advance knowing what majors you're interested in looking at. The other important thing is for students and parents to be aware that it doesn't have to be a four year program, it can be. But today, we find that there's a lot of different certification programs, and especially at community colleges, especially looking at programs, they don't have to be colleges. But that's something that we recommend, because colleges go through a very important process, vetting process to make sure that certifications are are you know, they're they're actually valid certifications that will employ students. So it's important for students to look at options like a one semester certification, six months certification, and then start looking at actual degrees. So that's a lot to remember and think about. But the important thing is to go to your school, get some individual time with your counselor. And well that's what they're good at. That's what we're trained to do. And we'll make sure that when you walk away, you walk away, at least with an initial plan, granted, there'll be follow up, but it's important to connect with the services available at the schools and the colleges as well.

Cecilia  07:45

That's, that's great. And I love the fact of doing that with a parent, I think that's really helpful for the student. But also students at this age, they want to be more independent. So there's also that option of them going to their academic counselor, just by themselves, you know, filling that type of independence. So either way is really great. But I love the process of doing it together with a parent just gives them that little bit more of security that they're looking for. Absolutely. So we hear a lot about dual enrollment. I feel like this has been a hot topic at schools the last couple of years. Can you explain what is dual enrollment?

08:22

Yeah, so dual enrollment is a process where students are attending high school and college at the same time. The benefit to that? Well, there's quite a few benefits to it, but mostly is that it's free to students, they do not pay anything out of pocket, there's only a few fees that are like miscellaneous, health fee, parking, things like that. But we cover that SBCSS covers that for our students that are enrolled in our district. So absolutely free, there's no cost. Textbooks are also free by the way. So literally, there's no out of pocket. Now, in addition to that students are able to decide between going on campus in person or if they would like to do virtual learning. So that gives them more flexibility to decide. So of course, there's certain classes that are available that would only be in person so for example, your sciences if you're interested in welding, but it's a great opportunity to get a foot in the door and try something that you may not know if you like or not, you don't lose anything by trying. So it's a great opportunity for students to not only be exposed to that, but the icing on the cake is that they're also getting college credit and high school credit at the same time. So that's kind of like double dipping if you think about it, but they're able to double up on credit so it's just a win win overall,

Cecilia  09:39

Such a great resource, I love that.

09:41

 If I can have like an example would be just just thinking about a certification problems. Just say a student is does not really want to commit to for even two years of college, but is willing to do a six month certification program or a couple semesters and it requires taking four courses, if they take one of those courses, their last semester of their senior year, or even two courses, when they graduate, they only have to go back and complete two more courses. And they're done. And they have that certification. And what colleges are, our community college partners have expressed to us time and time again, is when students, even those that are reluctant to go to college, when they set their foot on college, they gain a certification. And then they're aware that there's a next step up, they're very likely to go back and take that next step. And a lot of these kids before you know it, you know, three, four or five years can go by, and they can actually have their degree, they didn't think that they wanted to do that at first, but they've matured, they're more motivated, and they're more willing to do it. So it's starting small. And you can actually start in high school and we set those up for you like a mistletoe has enrolled a number of students. So it's the application process is like anything else. It's not easy to do. But but we can do it within an hour. And we will hold their hand and support them and get it done before you know it. They're taking a course, a few months go by and they have a college class on their transcript. That's a great start.

Cecilia  11:13

So a common question I see with dual enrollment with parents is, is my student going to take a full load of high school classes and an additional one or two classes with the college class? Or does it take away some of their high school credits? 

Adina  11:30

Great question. It doesn't take away any of their classes that they're currently enrolled in, because the classes that they're enrolled in will be towards the common core classes, like their basic classes that they need for high school. However, if they take a class that does meet that, so like, let's say a student is interested in pursuing health science, and they want to take a biology class, because there's a lab component to that, then they can take that class and they won't be required to take that at our school. So it would be able to take the place of that's an open option, but it's not going to just replace all their classes. And so we would of course, work with the student, parent and the principal to determine what would be the best course for them and to see what you know what what it would look like for them. 

Cecilia  12:20

That's great. Another thing that we hear often is about the FAFSA, right? So FAFSA is now a requirement. And it's so incredibly confusing, both for students and for parents and it's something that in order to complete the FAFSA, you really need your parents information, their support. So can you help explain what is FAFSA and why is it so important?

Adina  12:48

Oh my gosh, okay, yes, FASFA, so it stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It you're not alone. If it's confusing, were all confused by it every year honestly. But the important thing to know is that once we get over that initial application, which by the way, some of you may have heard that the new FASFA just dropped December 31. It there are pros and cons like to everything else, but it has just been changed from just under 100 questions are now it's less than 50 questions. So to make it easier for parents, students and families to be able to complete that. So we are looking forward to the positive change in that so it's not it shouldn't be as difficult. Again, we are here to support and we are here to support each student as they complete it. So once the student completes the FASFA, that, that provides them eligibility for certain grants or funds that will be available at each university college or trade school that they may be interested in. And it doesn't have to be necessarily a two or four year, it can also be like Dr. Flores was mentioning certificate or trade schools that are even less than a year long. So there are many options. Now the other good news is that with the new FASFA the warden amount, the maximum amount for the Pell Grant, which is free money to students, they have certain income thresholds that they have to meet to qualify. Don't quote me on this, but it's usually under $80,000 A year per household, the maximum award amount just went up to $7395. So almost $7,400 Last year it was at $6800. So we're anticipating that they will continue to increase that as time goes. And what that means that that student can use that money for anything that they need college related. So it's just access to free money for that education that training no matter what what area you're looking to get into.

Cecilia  14:43

Right and so no matter what high school your child goes to make sure you touch base with the counselor to support in this process.

Sergio  14:52

Every high school in California now offers parent workshop for FAFSA, so you don't have to do that alone without doubt.

Cecilia  15:00

Such good information? And where can families find scholarship opportunities? Because I get that question a lot students are even lost on where to find it. There's apps out there, there's all these tools, but not everything has been so easy to navigate. Some students wanted to do we did they always have to have an essay. So how can families find scholarship opportunities? 

Adina  15:26

Okay, so we'll talk to you on this one. One of the great things about scholarships you mentioned about the essays. So nine times out of 10, there is an essay required. But the thing that I want to highlight is that a lot of times you can kind of copy and paste the so let's say that the essay they want to really get to know who you are, what your goals are, what are you planning to use this money for? How is this training or education going to help further your, your future your goals, so take it one piece at a time and don't feel intimidated by hearing an essay. And again, we're here to support students in completing those scholarships. The other thing is that there are so many areas to look at, it can be so intimidating to find like different avenues and outlets for that the main thing is that you should never have to pay to access scholarships. I've seen some programs out there that require parents to pay a certain fee like monthly fee, or there should be no charges for accessing scholarships. Aside from that, there are a lot of local entities that do have that specifically for students. We're in the Inland Empire. So there's a lot of organizations that have local chapters. So like, for example, the Kiwanis Club, the Rotary Club locally have a lot of opportunities for our students. And also we have the kings in drugs Task Force, which is specific to our organization. And the select students that are have graduated from our district. And they award I want to say two $500 scholarships just as an example. And then there are a couple of other large organizations like JCCASAC, I don't know the acronym for a JCCASAC. It's super long. But it's basically an organization that helps students who are in alternative education, and then also the California Association of administrators, they just dropped a scholarship opportunity where they're awarding 10 $5,000 scholarships to students. So we have lots of opportunities. And like Dr. Flores was saying, we are able to support students with that, a lot of times a letter of recommendation is needed. And that's where it's really important to have those relationships. Even if you don't know someone at your school, just reach out and we'll be happy to help.

Cecilia  17:41

Right like a teacher, a counselor principal event, those are great avenues to get a letter of recommendation for students. There's also scholarships for foster youth. If you've ever experienced homelessness, almost every single type of nationality out there, there is a scholarship for you. There's even scholarships for if you're left handed or right handed. So it's really interesting all the great opportunities, but that's exactly what our academic counselors are for is helping our families and our students navigate that process. Thank you so much for what you do.

Sergio  18:16

You know, and to add to that, there are also scholarships that are the award amount is really, really high, that are awarded by big organizations and corporations. Those are and by all means apply for them. It doesn't hurt to apply, like Miss Silva said, you know, you're gonna use the same information is when you're cutting and pasting that and that's not cheating. You're cutting and pasting your story, right? Like, this is why I need the money. What are the decision makers on these scholarships? One of the things that they want to look at is commitment, like how you need to state and show the how committed you are to completing a college degree or certification program. And that's a really important component. But though those large scholarships are extremely competitive, so again, not to say not to apply for them, but the kind of lower hanging fruit is what Miss Silva mentioned is go to your counselor here at SBCSS. We have a number of scholarships that are available, if you're going to an inland empire high school, they all have they have scholarship night and they award 20 30 40 50 scholarships for some of these big high schools. And the only reason students don't sometimes get one is because they never applied exactly so they just need to apply the counselors will help them I've seen situations and the Inland Empire high schools you know, Fontana Rialto San Bernardino, where one students getting seven or eight scholarships. The decision makers are wanting to spread that out, but sometimes they don't do that because there's just not enough applicants. So they need to make sure they get out there. It doesn't take much time, maybe a long weekend and just fill it all all the applications and getting turned in.

Cecilia  20:01

That's right. So apply, apply, apply. So if college scholarships are, you know, maybe an avenue you don't want to explore, or even if you do want to explore what are Pell Grants? How is that different? And how can families access that? 

Adina  20:21

Okay, so great question. Pell Grants are different than let's say, a traditional award that could be in the form of a loan, loans have to be paid back Pell grants don't. And you mentioned, like the Chafee Grant, which is for false former or current foster youth. So there's different opportunities and accessing that money. The great thing about Pell Grant is that there's different types there's a, b, or c, which is basically depending on like the student's grades, or could be income requirements, it can be also other areas like service to your school and things like that. But traditionally, a student will always qualify for either an A, B or C grant. And the good thing is that they will be notified which of the three that they qualify for, as soon as we complete the FASFA, they will receive, like it's literally immediate on the screen, it will receive a notice on what they qualify for what the estimated Pell grants going to be. And that can help with your planning for what programs. So if you have some programs that might be a little bit more costly, like for example, I have some students who are interested in going to cosmetology school, there's a private route, and then there's also the public route. And so that can kind of determine, Okay, which route am I going to take what makes the most sense, but the great thing is that Pell Grants are literally free money, they do not have to be paid back. And it's a great way to access your resources.

Cecilia  21:46

 Yeah, a great resource. So we know that college is not for everyone. Some students want a different path. And so what are other options that are available to students who are looking for a different path than a college career.

Sergio  22:01

And we talked about a few of those already, there are trade and vocational schools that focus on things like you know, electrical work, plumbing, automotive, cosmetology, and they need to be sorted through very, very carefully. A lot of you, one of the first things you need to do is make sure that there's a valid accreditation, they need to be accredited by and you can come to our schools, whether it's an SBCSS school, or any other school, and check with them to see if Well, it's simple, just go online, see if they're WASC accredited, or they have another accreditation, and, and to make sure that the school has not had problems in the past, and a lot of times you do a Google search on a school, and you'll find out, you know, like, it's important to check what others think, like I had a great experience there, I thought four to five stars, and or I had a really difficult time. So just be very, very careful when it comes to trade and vocational schools. That's why we encourage students to to get those same certifications at the community college, it's less expensive, you can get the grant, a lot of times students don't pay anything. We personally have a relationship with a number of organizations here in the Inland Empire, like the Southwest carpenters organization, the forest and fire recruitment program, Seminole get gateway college. I mean, there's a number of them. And these are not your traditional colleges or universities, they are going to, if you want a meaningful career, you're going to have to have some kind of training after high school, or you get into a good company. And over time, you might be able to build build up, but the faster better way is getting some kind of certification. So you have a skill that general population doesn't have. So the trade and vocational schools are good. Again, those certification programs. There's a lot of talk about information technology, IT there's a certifications like Cisco Networking, Google IT certification, all those are very, if you want to go into welding, we have welding programs within our county now. And in the next couple of years, we will be offering welding certification where you are employable right after high school. So there's there's a lot of certification programs that are out there, and they're a really, really good start or just a full blown career too. And, of course, his military service to military service has changed a lot over the last couple of decades. But if students want to be connected with the recruiter, we can help with that as well with any of the branches in the military, we can have a recruiter come out right away. If parents are concerned about that and have questions, you know, there's a lot of misconceptions about the military as well. both good and bad. And so I you know, we'll leave that up to your own judgment, but just bring somebody in have a conversation with them, tell them what your concerns are, so the military is all also an option. But again, we are equipped to be able to help with any one of these different options for students,

Cecilia  25:07

Some great resources there. So we know it takes just one good experience or exposure to change a student's life. So how can we provide our students with a positive exposure to different career field?

Adina  25:21

I think another point to that thank you for? That's a great question. Because I think sometimes with the amount of careers, it can be kind of overwhelming with that. It's totally normal to feel like that. So when you think about different career options, I have a lot of students who say, Miss, I'm not trying to go to college, I'm done. I'm so excited to get on with my life. And that's a totally normal feeling, right? So imagine how the thought of having to know what I'm going to do for the rest of my life that can be like really like, whoa, so very daunting. Yes. So when you think about the opportunities to enter a career force, like Dr. Flores was saying, being able to enter into, for example, company into the workforce, that can be an option, too. So we in our program for our students services, we have options for where we bring speakers and different connections and for students to be able to explore different career fields. So for example, we've been cultivating relationships with the California Conservation Corps, where a student can go and explore different areas. And then, for example, Amazon, we have a relationship with Amazon, where we'll be working on a career fair in the spring, for students who are going to be graduating, and Amazon, they have a lot of different opportunities, and they welcome new graduates, those are just a couple of the opportunities that we have been working on fostering, but it is there's no, the you know, the old adage of the only dumb question is the one not asked, right. So there's no wrong way to approach that. And just thinking about the circles that you have, I'm sure that if we think about, let's say, writing a list of 10 people that I know, and then the 10 people that they know, we start to realize, like, Oh, I know, somebody that works in this field, this category, this industry. And there's a wealth of knowledge in our, in our circles that we can also tap in sometimes we forget to look into that. But that can also be a great resource as well.

Cecilia  27:19

 Yeah. Right. So exposing them to different career fields that they were maybe interested in is helpful, because they can decide will be maybe this isn't for me, right? And so we help them navigate that a little better. Or maybe someone who didn't think about this career field, they just happened to go on that visit. And they just found a whole new path for them. So I'm really an advocate for those positive exposures. It's such a great resource for students. So is there anything else that parents should know, to support their students in preparing for their life after high school?

Adina  27:52

I think if so I'll I'm going to jump ahead of Dr. Flores for a second. One of the first things that just came to my mind is that a lot of students sometimes find that they don't have the necessary documents they need when they're graduating. Yeah, so things like a birth certificate, if they don't already have a driver's license, or a California ID card, we can support in getting access to those things. And sometimes it can be really hard to take time during the day from work to go do those things. But we do have supports for things like that. So reach out to us academic counselors, or folks at the school and can get in contact with us to help but those are things that are needed, if a student wants to ultimately go to college are going to need some sort of like a photo ID. Not always will their school Id work because nine times out of 10, they'll be either about to be eighteen or they will be eighteen and they will need that identification. So like social security card, if they don't have a social security card, we can still do the CADA. So I don't want anybody to feel like they don't have access to something if they don't have a social security number they can we still have access to financial aid with the CADA and we still have access to different forms of ID as well, so we can support with that. Sorry to jump in.

Sergio  29:12

That's really great advice, I think. And just circling back to the original question about the anxiety students feel we're middle of January. So we're in the last stretch of this school year for students that are seniors, but even juniors as well. But I think that the first thing that parents can do is start the conference. It doesn't have to be just over one sitting. You know, just start the conversation like what are you thinking about doing after high school? And the initial reaction again, going back to there is the student may say, Well, I don't know I you know, I don't care. I don't care what I do, who knows what, how they're gonna react, but just begin the conversation. And then you know, we had we spent the last few minutes here talking about exactly what you should do as a parent is really engage your child find out what there interest are, make an appointment with the school, call the school and find out. Are there any field trips to colleges? Or are you taking students in RSPCA schools we have a lot of events planned for. With with like Garner Holt, which is here in Redlands, we have the Ontario in Ontario, we have the carpenters Association, even if students don't want to go into those fields, I think just visiting being part of that asking questions, that's part of the whole exposure you're talking about. I mean, even even at like, for example, a Garner Holt. Not all of them are engineers. I mean, there's all kinds of jobs there. And students get an opportunity to see something that maybe they haven't seen before. So it's important for them to get out if you want to know whether your child is attending, or if there's an opportunity for them to attend. I think a really good thing for parents to do right off the bat is call the school and visit the school and ask those questions. We're happy to see parents and work with them. 

Cecilia  30:57

Yes, it's wonderful resources. Wonderful information. Thank you both so much for your time today. And all of this was such good information that can help our families and students navigate this process because it is a lot. It's a lot for parents navigate and it's a lot for our students navigate. So absolutely, I'm sure this was very helpful for a lot of our listeners. 

Adina  31:16

Thank you for having us. 

Sergio  31:17

Yes, thank you. 

Cecilia  31:17

So thanks again for listening. And remember parents, you are doing amazing, you are amazing and you are raising amazing humans. So take a breath. Enjoy the little moments, and we'll see you next time.