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According to the California Postsecondary Education Commission, five students from Workman High School in La Puente attended a University of California campus in 2002. In contrast, Beverly Hills High, also a public school with a comparable graduating class size, sent 77 students to a UC school.

In addition, Wilson High in Hacienda Heights sent 78 students to a UC campus while La Puente High School sent only 13 students.

These disparities in the number of students sent to UC campuses are found all over the state of California.

Unfortunately, when comparisons are made among the number of students who apply to and attend California State Universities and junior colleges from schools like Beverly Hills and Workman, similar disparities arise. This is the reality of the educational inequity that persists within our public system.

Fortunately, schools like Workman High are served by programs such as the Early Academic Outreach Program and the Workman High Empowerment Project.

These programs were developed to address the K-12 educational inequity and to provide otherwise under-served students with vital resources.

These resources attempt to make up for the fact that some schools located in poorer communities cannot address the educational needs of their students.

Educational field trips are examples of the essential resources that programs like the Workman High Empowerment Project offer.

For example, 44 students from Workman identified by their teachers as having the potential to excel academically but not achieving their potential were brought to UCLA on Dec. 2.

The aim of this field trip was to show what college has to offer and the benefits students can enjoy if they work very hard during high school.

Those who helped out with this event agree that the trip had a significant impact on students.

However, as stated in the Daily Bruin article “Outreach programs threatened by deficit” (Dec. 4), the elimination of outreach programs like EAOP and the Workman High Empowerment Project is a real possibility.

The Dec. 2 field trip was funded by the Student Initiated Outreach Committee – an entity that also might not exist next year.

As students at this university and future leaders of not only California but the United States as well, we cannot allow outreach programs to be eliminated.

I urge everyone to get involved and join the immediate efforts to secure funding for outreach programs. Let’s recognize our positions of privilege and fulfill our responsibility to the less fortunate – the marginalized communities of our state.

We must remember the words of Malcolm X, “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”

Do your part to create a more just, humane and democratic society.

Support this cause by calling and e-mailing your legislators, signing petitions and voicing your concerns. If you desire to become actively involved in these efforts, approach your student government representative or the Affirmative Action Coalition here at UCLA.

Lopez is a fourth-year political science student.