Meet Mercedes: Youth to College Literacy Program Student Coordinator

Hi everyone! My name is Mercedes and I am the Student Director of the newly re-organized Youth to College program, (formerly America Reads/America Counts).

I hope your summer has been as interesting as mine – I’ve mostly been busy preparing for my senior year, which is QUITE the headache! But I recently returned from a study abroad trip to London, Paris and Rome, one of the most amazing and valuable experiences I’ve had so far. Formulating an understanding of three new cultures was fascinating and eye-opening, and really inspired me to have an occupation that allows me to travel overseas in the future. Since it was for my Masters degree program, I got to visit several major accounting firms which is helping me decide where I’d like to work after graduation.

I’ve always tried to craft a program in which educational inequities could be battled in our local area through improving academic skills. With the new program restructuring, however, we are now guided by the bigger goal of inspiring students to attend college through literacy tutoring. I've really enjoyed reading all of the applications for the new AR/AC tutors – we’ve received hundreds and deciding what students to choose from such a talented crowd has been difficult. We have a great new group of people who have done amazing things with service and tutoring in their own communities. I'm truly looking forward to what they can do in Linda Vista this fall while working alongside our current tutors, and I’m excited to see how our community can benefit.

One new program being developed this year under Y2C is an English as a Second Language program at Montgomery Middle School, replacing the former America Counts tutoring. If any of you are interested in participating, please contact Diana Velazquez (dvelazquez@sandiego.edu).

At the moment we're working out the details of the trainings to be held at the very beginning of the semester, and we would love any suggestions from past and present participants in the program. I'm looking forward to meeting/seeing all of you once school begins, and I hope you all enjoy the remainder of your summer!