Katy Byrns says some of her students had never heard of college before setting foot into her fifth-grade classroom this year at the Education Responsibility Empowerment Success (ERES) Academy in Oakland.

“Others were told by previous teachers that they’d be lucky to finish high school,” said Byrns, ’05, M.A. ’07.

But Byrns and her students are aiming higher than that now. All her students not only know about college, they are preparing to enroll one day. And thanks to a new program that brings UC Davis students to classrooms like Byrns’, some of those kids might be future Aggies.

‘UC Davis is my first choice’

“There’s a statistic that says if you ask a sixth-grader if they’re going to college and they say no, they have only a 20 percent chance of going,” said Tatiana Epanchin, principal of ERES Academy. “If you ask and they say yes, they have an 85 percent chance or more.”

Mireya Amezcua is one of those students who has said yes. “UC Davis is my first choice,” the 10-year-old aspiring artist said this fall after five Student Alumni Association members paid a visit as part of the Aggie Classrooms program.

The program reaches out to elementary school students in low-income neighborhoods to show them that college is possible. Aggie Classrooms has already more than doubled in size since it launched last year. In 2008–09, the Student Alumni Association mailed “spirit packs” and letters to students at five California schools. This year, Aggie Classrooms is pen-palling with three more schools and making personal visits to four others. ERES academy was the first of those to receive a visit.

UC Davis student Amalia “Molly” Suarez ’11, who directs the Aggie Classrooms program, knows firsthand that hearing about college as an achievable goal can be a first step to getting there.

“It took a lot for me to get to college, and part of that was being told I could do it,” Suarez said. “I’m the first one in my family to go to college, and now I want to help kids in the same position to realize that they can dream big too.”

Suarez said the chance to be involved with Aggie Classrooms was one of the main reasons she joined the SAA board.

Byrns, in her first year of teaching at ERES Academy, was thrilled to have fellow Aggies visit the school. “We don’t have money for any field trips this year, so having visitors in the classroom is the next best thing,” she said. “The kids were so excited about having guests.”

Preparing for college early on

The 26 eager fifth-graders received spirit packs containing UC Davis-branded gear and publications, which were donated to the program by campus partners including Repro Graphics. Each student also received an SAA T-shirt donated by Greg Garcia ’93 and Jim Lenau ’78, co-owners of the Sacramento graphic design company D2 Productions.

The academy, with 225 students in kindergarten through eighth-grade, is the latest of six charter schools in Oakland opened by Aspire Public Schools. The Oakland-based not-for-profit organization starts and operates small schools in urban areas with a mission of teaching kids about college the minute they enter the classroom.

At the academy, each classroom door is adorned with a brightly colored flag representing the college or university each class is learning about — usually the teacher’s alma mater.

Inside Byrns’ classroom, UC Davis pennants and banners hang from the walls. Her students already know quite a bit about the campus — even one of the football cheers that Byrns remembered from her days as an Aggie.

“Being able to tell the kids about my own experiences makes it more interesting for them,” Byrns said. “I’m better prepared to answer their questions this way.”

After learning the fight song, the kids peppered the UC Davis students with dozens of questions and comments about the campus and what college is like.

“Seeing their faces light up when we talked about college and all the great things you can do was so much fun,” Aggie Classrooms director Suarez said. “Knowing that I’m helping the next generation strive for something better is really rewarding and kind of an indescribable feeling.”

Expansion in the works

As Aggie Classrooms continues to grow, SAA is reaching out to other Aggies for support. The San Diego chapter of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association is pitching in to help with one of the Southern California schools.

Suarez is looking for other ways to expand the program’s reach.

“We’re in the process of applying for grants that will help to pay for field trips that will bring some of the students to UC Davis to see the campus for themselves,” she said. “We’re also looking into corporate sponsorships that will help to provide bigger and better spirit packs and money for more field trips and classroom visits.”

To donate to student programs like Aggie Classrooms, contact Janice Corbett at jlcorbett@ucdavis.edu or (530) 754-9903.

Brooke Converse is the communications officer for the Cal Aggie Alumni Association. This story originally appeared in the winter 2010 issue of the UC Davis Magazine.