Jean Lincoln with former Ukiah scholar, Anakaren

Ten years ago, Partnership Scholars Program welcomed a small cohort of students to be the inaugural group in its second northern California location, in Ukiah. A small town about 60 miles inland from Mendocino, Ukiah is the seat of Mendocino County with a high population of low-income, minority families. With the help of the Ukiah Unified School District, PSP began working with five mentors and five students. One of those mentors included retired Mendocino College professor Jean Lincoln. In her first few years as a mentor, Jean worked closely with the program coordinator in Fort Bragg, until it became apparent that Ukiah needed to form its own leadership team. “I saw a lot of potential with the program, but it wasn’t clear where we were going,” says Jean. “We didn’t have a strong identity here in Ukiah. I wanted to have that.”

A few years later, Jean invited a friend of hers, Penny Walker, to become a mentor with PSP as well. Penny had recently retired and was a former instructor at Mendocino College. She saw a need to support students who would otherwise not be college-bound. “I realized that the students needed more support with their college applications and SATs and I wanted to be of better support in that way,” says Penny “Our local high school wasn’t doing anything about SAT prep, and I wasn’t really thrilled with what was available to the kids. I started worrying about their ability to handle applying to private schools.”

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For high school seniors, this time of the year is jam-packed with semester finals and college application deadlines. PSP seniors have their sights set on the finish line for the latter, with California State University (Cal State) and University of California (UC) applications in and many private school application deadlines coming soon. Last year, PSP’s 44 seniors sent in 145 UC applications, 105 CSU applications, and 60 private school applications. While some seniors feel the pressure, PSP scholars express feelings of relief at having been well prepared and organized, thanks to help from the program and their mentors.

Mendocino High School senior Thae S. is currently completing his Common Application to submit for Northeastern University, Loyola Marymount University, USC, Boston College and Stanford, as well as another independent application for University of Maryland. He has already applied to a number of public universities in California. He, along with other seniors, is applying to several out-of-state private schools due to college visits to the east coast with PSP.

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Freddy Cordon has had dreams of being a pilot from the age of 10. Every Sunday at church, he would see the same elderly gentleman who, at first, taught him to make paper airplanes and eventually gifted him with books about World War II fighter planes. It was during this formative time in Freddy’s life that he thought he’d someday fly, and it was through the help of PSP that he realized his dream of going away to aviation school in Dubuque, Iowa.

“I went to the information session at lunch, I really wanted to get into the program,” says Freddy recalling his introduction the program. “I had my sister’s help with the essay that I had to write, I turned it in, and got an interview. It’s still to this day one of the scariest things I ever did.” Upon entry into PSP in the 7^th grade at Kranz Middle School, Freddy was paired up with his mentor, Ray Andry and two other scholars, David and Elvin. The four spent the next six years together, going on adventures and preparing for the next big chapter: College. “Mr. Andry from the very beginning encouraged us to look at private universities,” says Freddy. “He encouraged us to go out of state – leave home for a while, be independent. So I took that advice from him.”

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When Partnership Scholars Program was forming in 1996, Dr. Bruce McDaniel was entering his first year as the Superintendent of the Lennox School District. Along with then-Assistant Principal of Lennox Middle School and current PSP Board Chair Meg Sanchez, Bruce was approached by PSP’s founder, Dr. Glenn Langer, with an opportunity to support the creation of this new college-access program. While familiar with other mentorship programs, Bruce saw PSP as having the potential for an even greater impact on students. “The notion of pairing up scholars with mentors was something that I was strongly in favor of and that I knew was a successful way of assisting students,” says Bruce. “At that time we had a mentoring program at the middle school, but this was doing far more mentoring with far more resources and following it up through the end of high school.” The benefits were clear to Bruce and he sanctioned PSP’s formation.

Initially, Bruce’s involvement in the program was relatively limited. “Each year I would go to the induction and events like that, and provide my support [of PSP] continuing in Lennox,” says Bruce. It wasn’t until 2010 when Bruce retired that he became not only a supporter of the program, but a deeply involved volunteer and member of the organization’s leadership. After 15 years of working alongside PSP, he was asked to join the Board of Trustees. “I knew the program was highly successful and I felt I had some things to offer in terms of my background and the connections I had made as superintendent,” says Bruce. “As a person entering retirement it was a nice way of keeping involved in the community I had worked with for so many years.”
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Not many know the story of how Partnership Scholars Program spread from Lennox, California to the community of El Monte in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles. But Arlene LeGaspe knows it well. A native to El Monte, Ms. LeGaspe helped lead the way in expanding the burgeoning college-access program, thanks to the advocacy of former Charles T. Kranz Intermediate School principal, Sal Gumina. Mr. Gumina was inspired to replicate the program after meeting PSP founder Glenn Langer at Lennox Middle School. He saw PSP’s growing success in a community he equated with El Monte and wanted to take the show on the road. In 1999, with the support of new funding, Partnership Scholars was launched at Kranz Intermediate with Arlene LeGaspe at the helm.

When approached with the prospect of a new mentorship program to support students in their pursuit of higher education, LeGaspe got right on board. “The principal [Les Mason] asked if I could do it,” says LeGaspe. “Anything I could do for the kids was fine by me.” She had been a teacher at Kranz since 1992 and saw a critical need for a college-access support for students at her school. She and five other mentors took on ten scholars and the program took off from there. Her initial involvement centered around bringing mentors on board and finding qualified students to receive scholarships. The program continued to grow under the leadership of the next principal and current Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services, Ray Andry, and today enjoys great support under the current principal, Sean Grycel. With the program’s expansion, LeGaspe has been instrumental in forging relationships with the El Monte high schools, coordinating between administration, mentors, students and the community.

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