The college students have come to town. In late January, the lucky students of Pescadero Elementary got some cool new playmates: five students from UC Santa Cruz, who started a new program as classroom mentors. They are affiliated with Classroom Connection, a UCSC program that has evolved into an exciting partnership between Puente, the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District and Merrill College, one of the ten colleges at UCSC. The college students, who are all Latino and English-Spanish bilingual, will provide one-on-one support to students, two mornings per week. Having college-going mentors on hand will be a huge step forward, explains Suzanne Abel, Puente’s Academic Director. Many Pescadero Elementary students are still learning at least some English, and most will be the first in their families to graduate High School and go to college. Adding bilingual, Latino mentors to the classroom benefits teachers, students and their families.  “Having bilingual mentors in the classroom will really be a godsend for the teachers there. They’re really, really excited about it.” That’s not the only advantage to having college students in the classroom, says Erica Hays, Director of Pescadero Elementary. Hays says the younger kids develop close relationships with their college mentors. They start to see themselves going to college like the big kids. “Whenever we have the older students here, the kids … Continue reading ‘Classroom Connection’ brings UC Santa Cruz students into Pescadero schools