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Wednesday, November 25, 1998

Mentors guide at-risk youths on path to higher education

PROGRAM: Role models give eighth-graders chance to reach goals

By Teresa Jun

Daily Bruin Contributor

UCLA pediatrician Dr. Olga Acosta does more than just take care of sick children.

Outside of work, she spends her free time with a special 15-year-old who comes from an underprivileged downtown Los Angeles community.

Xiomara Luna is a 10th-grader at Los Angeles High School, located in a community where teen pregnancies and drug use are not uncommon.

For a year and a half, Acosta has devoted her time as a mentor to Luna, providing the teenager with a positive role model and guidance in her path to college.

As mentors for the Fulfillment Fund, a 21-year-old, non-profit educational organization, Acosta and about 300 other local professionals have made a five-year commitment to local eighth-graders who are on track to pursuing a college education, despite coming from a disadvantaged background.

"(The mentorship program) appealed to me because I'm really interested in encouraging kids - especially minorities - to pursue higher education," said Acosta, who was the first in her family to go to college.

"The problem is that (some of these kids) don't always know what options they have," she said. "Its important for adolescents to be encouraged if they do have interests (in certain areas.)"

For Luna, this means pursuing her childhood dream of becoming a pediatrician.

"When I was a little girl, I always liked doctor things - especially helping little kids," Luna said. "So I knew I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up."

With future plans to visit her mentor at her hospital workplace, Luna has so far enjoyed all of the activities she has shared with Acosta.

Besides movies, dinners and museum visits, Luna said she also had fun at "the meeting where everybody (from the mentorship program) got to know each other."

Not only has Luna made new friends, but she has also kept herself focused on long-term goals through this program.

"Its a good helping program," she said. "It helped me keep school stuff in order," she said, noting her grades have improved over the last year.

With hopes of someday attending the University of Michigan, Luna feels that getting admitted to college will be very important.

Many students who have a background similar to Luna's often don't make it to college, because they are not on track for various reasons, Acosta said.

"Either they took the wrong classes or they missed important test dates. And by the time they're seniors in high school, they have plans to go to college, but it's too late," Acosta said.

"So if you catch them early, it's more likely that they will be able to do it," she added.

As for her own student, Acosta has high hopes for Luna's future.

"(Luna) has great potential," Acosta said. "She has all the right qualities to be a pediatrician, though she has a lot of barriers to overcome."

These barriers, whether they be financial, educational, social or personal, sparked the creation of the Fulfillment Fund in 1977 by Dr. Gary Gitnick, chief of digestive diseases at the UCLA Medical Center.

"It was clear that problems in the inner city were going to explode and building prisons was not the answer," Gitnick said.

Hundreds of mentors are now giving local children the opportunity to pursue higher education in this city-wide program that involves about 70 local schools, mostly in the L.A. Unified School District.

Teenagers who demonstrate educational potential but come from underprivileged backgrounds are sought to match up with local professionals as mentors.

In addition, the Fulfillment Fund provides scholarships as well as college counseling services. These include preparation for the SAT, college applications and financial aid applications. This privately funded organization has produced 11 former mentees who now attend UCLA as undergraduates.

For her first time ever as a mentor, Acosta seems to be doing well.

"She's real nice, understanding. She's there for me, and she's a good adviser," Luna said.

Acosta encourages others to volunteer as mentors for the Fulfillment Fund because it's rewarding for both the mentor and the mentee.

"(The kids) are young and enthusiastic. And you absorb their energy," she said. "You end up making a friend for life."

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© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]

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