Miguelina Mesa had a guiding hand to help her navigate the SATs and wade through the process of applying to colleges and seeking financial aid and scholarships. But the support didn't stop there.
Mesa is one of 13 students in the inaugural class of a new college success program run by Salem CyberSpace that serves low-income students beyond high school, offering counseling and other services to help them adjust to college and stay on track to graduate.
"I started CyberSpace my junior year at Salem High, and they've basically stayed with me ever since," said Mesa, 19, who lives at home in Salem and is a freshman at Salem State College.
"I had gone through and got into college, but the process was overwhelming," continued Mesa, whose family is from the Dominican Republic. "I felt it was a lot for me and something I couldn't have done by myself."
As the first year of college draws to a close, only one student in the program is struggling academically and more than half the students have made the dean's list, according to Linda Saris, director of Salem CyberSpace.
"The whole issue of college readiness is a hot-button issue right now," Saris said. "How can this be if kids graduate high school, pass the MCAS and meet all the requirements — how come there is such a high college dropout rate?"
To administer the college success program, part-time success counselor Kelly Quinn works with each of the 13 students. Since the fall, she has helped them with things like class selection, career/major choices, financial issues and finding resources at college, whether it's math tutoring or help at the writing center or the career center.
Quinn said first-year students can be overwhelmed or get lost in the shuffle at a large school, particularly commuter students, which defines the majority of students in the program.
"Having CyberSpace at Salem State helped us to connect to a lot of stuff," Mesa said.
Saris said there are many little things that can derail students, such as affording textbooks, finding transportation to campus or buying the required health insurance.
"It's the little things that trip kids up, and these kids don't have parents who do that for them," Saris said.
The students in the program are predominantly Hispanic, so Quinn, who is bilingual in Spanish, also does parent outreach and holds monthly parent meetings.
"Most of our parents did not grow up in the U.S., so we talk about how the college process works," Quinn said.
"Nationally, Latino students have the highest dropout rates in college and high school," she said.
Hispanic students, students from low-income families and limited-English-proficient students are among those who make up a disproportionately high number of the 10,000 students who drop out of high school annually in Massachusetts, according to the state.
"Over half the kids who go to community college don't come out the other end," Saris said. "In urban schools, the numbers are even higher. It's really quite distressing."
'Moving where the need is'
Salem CyberSpace, which opened in 2002, is a program of North Shore Community Action Programs Inc.
CyberSpace, which is on Lafayette Street in Salem, already works with students in grades seven through 12 to provide homework help, English literacy skills and more. The college success program was a natural direction for the agency to grow as the children graduated from high school, Saris said.
"I try to be flexible and move where the need is," Saris said. "When we started to see more immigrant kids, we added the English program. Then when the kids graduated high school, we added the college program."
To pay for the college success program, Saris secured private grants that fund Quinn's position, which is part time this year. Saris is applying for grants to make Quinn's job full time next year, since there will be an anticipated 23 students in college as a new class enters.
Salem CyberSpace will "graduate" another class of 10 high school seniors next month who will heading off to college in the fall. They will be recognized during a May 11 ceremony, at which Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll and North Shore Community College President Wayne Burton are slated to speak, according to Saris.
Empowering students
To run the program, Salem CyberSpace partnered with Salem State College, where the majority of the program's students are enrolled. The college provided an office for Quinn in the Ellison Campus Center.
"Salem State College has been an amazing resource," said Quinn, 24, who lives in Salem and is in the graduate social work program at Salem State.
The students are also free to use Quinn's office on campus, where there are mailboxes for each of them.
"They kind of have a place to be," Quinn said. "They can use the phone or the computer, and it's a quiet place to work, since most of them are commuters."
Quinn is also available as problems or questions arise.
"I'm more or less troubleshooting and checking in," said Quinn, who first volunteered for Salem CyberSpace when she was an undergraduate. "They're all very motivated and come to their appointments, and it's nice to see them grow."
Of the 13 students in the first-year program, eight attend Salem State, three are at North Shore Community College, one is at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, and one attends the University of Massachusetts Amherst. There are seven women and six men, Quinn said.
"I'm here to empower them," said Quinn, of Salem. "They have the skills, it's just knowing what to do."
Staff writer Amanda McGregor can be reached at amcgregor@salemnews.com.
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