Why is this SE Fresno high school sending so many of its graduates to Fresno State?

When Karina Ornelas, who grew up in Firebaugh working alongside her parents in the fields, earned her bachelor’s degree from Fresno State in 2001, her parents noticed something.

“¡Qué bonito! ¿Eso qué es?” they inquired about an extra ceremony for certain graduates. Beautiful. What is that?

When she explained the hooding of doctoral graduates, Gabriel and Blanca Ornelas replied, “¡Imaginate!” (Imagine that).

She recalls her mother telling her, “Mija, se pueden robar todo, tu casa, tu carro pero no tu educación” (Daughter, they can rob you of everything, your house, your car but not your education).

That message – along with the quote “Education should not be a way out of your neighborhood, it should be a tool for improving it,” by Dr. Christopher Emdin – drove her to stress education to others.

Today, she is Dr. Karina Rodríquez and in her second year as head counselor at Sunnyside High School, where she began in 2010. Last year, she earned her doctorate in education leadership.

Her biggest accomplishment is seeing 406 Sunnyside students get accepted into Fresno State. That’s out of 409 that applied.

Rodríquez, who oversees nine other counselors, works with principal Michele Anderson to encourage, cajole and reward dozens of students to fill out their applications for Fresno State and other universities.

She would prefer they go to Fresno State like she did, but realizes some students may opt instead for a UC or other school.

“There’s this common language and expectation that our students have options,” said Rodríquez.

The quote by Emdin, a math professor at Columbia University, struck a chord with her.

“You can go to a UC and that’s great (but) when do we teach our kids to come back?”

High acceptance rate by Fresno State

Fresno State has accepted 406 of the 630 Sunnyside seniors for the fall semester. That is of 409 who applied.

More than two of every three students at Sunnyside are Latino.

Why are so many Sunnyside students being accepted by Fresno State? And, what is behind this effort?

Michele Anderson, principal of the southeast Fresno school that opened in the fall of 1999, credits her predecessor, Tim Liles, who died last September.

“He used to joke that he was Cedar Avenue-educated because he went to Calwa Elementary, Sequoia Middle School, Roosevelt High School and then he graduated from Fresno State,” said Anderson, who began at Sunnyside as a teacher.

When Liles became Sunnyside principal, about 33% of seniors met the A-through-G requirements to get into college, said Anderson. Today, that percentage has more than doubled to about 67%.

“There’s always been this big push in the region about trying to prepare our students to be college- and career-ready,” said Anderson.

She also credits the counselors.

“Our counselors are just amazing with our students,” she said. “There’s just this tireless effort to help them understand that once upon completing high school, we want you to have a wealth of options.”

That, she said, has led the students’ mindset change from “D’s are just about passing a class” to the need to earn C’s or better.

Heavy use of social media to encourage students

That’s where Rodríquez gets the job done.

She depends heavily on social media, especially during the pandemic, to alert students about application deadlines. She raffles off gift cards and Fresno State swag.

“We try to create a culture that’s a college-going culture right from September before college applications begin,” said Rodríquez, a mother of two.

If a student didn’t meet an application deadline, counselors would jump in and follow through.

“Complete your application, and we will put your name on a drawing,” would be a typical message sent.

“The biggest selling point is that follow through,” said Rodríquez, who frequently tweets about raffles and school rallies. “We used whatever platform we needed to make sure that we connected with our students.

“I feel like we left no stone unturned.”

It helps to put “free” in the email message field, she said.

Senior Brianna Peralez, one of Sunnyside’s seven Dell Scholars, recognizes the work of the head counselor.

“Dr. Rodríquez has been extremely helpful in the time that I’ve known her,” said Peralez. “I will come to her with my problems about a teacher or class or a schedule, and she is on her way to fix it; usually within at most 5 to 10 minutes.”

Fresno State has noticed the numbers

“They’re one of our main high schools to come to Fresno State continuously,” said President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval. “I believe it’s due to the faculty member, the teacher who is in the classroom and says, ‘Look, you are gifted. I believe in you.’”

The other selling point, Jiménez-Sandoval said, is that Fresno State is “a world class university right here in your backyard.”

California State University Chancellor Joseph I. Castro is impressed with the work of Rodríquez and her team.

“I still remember when Sunnyside High School was opened and the vision there was to get as many of those students to go to college,” said Castro after a recent commencement at Bulldog Stadium.

“And here they are, one of the leading feeders of students, if not No. 1. They’re one of the top feeders of students to Fresno State. I love that.”

Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 7 de junio de 2021, 11:05 p. m..