OPEN GATE Alum Granted over $150,000 for College

OPEN GATE alum Gabriel Sandoval was awarded a $35,872 annual grant from Claremont McKenna College where he will attend this fall. It is especially impressive since the college is sixth in the nation for admission selectivity. He was also awarded a $2,000 a year MKC scholarship from the S.D. Foundation. Gabriel graduated with honors from the Preuss School as an AP Scholar with a remarkable 4.25 GPA. He is planning to attend graduate school at Claremont McKenna, before starting a career in business. Below are Gabriel's thoughts on the OPEN GATE Program:

"OPEN GATE was an amazing program for me. It helped me better prepare for futureeducation by enhancing my academic abilities. This program opened doors for me by providing me the opportunity to develop myself as a student. Not many low-income students with my background get the chance to continue their education in a four year university. As an OPEN GATE Alum that has graduated from high school and will advance to higher education, I can say that this program was the foundation of my academic success."

Gabriel is especially well-rounded. He was a member of the ecology club and played on the varsity soccer team for all four years of high school. Gabriel and his brother, Angel, both benefited from the OPEN GATE Program, which helped them to see that an education is relevant to their lives; and prepared them for the challenges of an advanced middle and high school college-prep program.

OPEN GATE Works!

OPEN GATE tutors employ very specific strategies to develop English literacy and critical thinking skills for gifted children from low-income families. Studies indicate that if children have not acquired their basic reading skills by 5th grade, they are not likely to succeed in higher grades. Our method works! Nationally-normed reading fluency assessments indicate that 78% of our students rank in the top 75th percentile nationwide...with more than half of them scoring in the 90th percentile.

Parent participation is a core element of OPEN GATE. Parents learn their child's curriculum, how to help their children with their studies at home, and how to participate at school. Gabriel and Angel's mother, Maria, is a great example; when her sons moved on to Preuss, she became the president of the PTA.

Angel Sandoval is currently attending community college in San Diego and will transfer to a San Diego University in fall 2011. The Sandovals are typical OPEN GATE alumni with a promising future ahead of them. School districts report a non-existent drop-out rate for OPEN GATE alumni, and 90% of those tracked are attending college.