CHULA VISTA –
Even with poverty and language barriers standing in the way of success, the International Baccalaureate program at Castle Park High School is helping students reach their goal of attending college.
For senior Julian Sesma, the program has been the key to being accepted at Georgetown University.
Sesma, 18, is co-valedictorian of the senior class and a standout student in IB, a specific series of courses from six categories that prepares students for the rigors of college. In addition, the program aims to produce well-rounded individuals by requiring 150 hours of community service and a 4,000-word essay related to the curriculum.
About 500 schools in the United States and in 120 countries participate in the IB program, which is funded by the International Baccalaureate Organization, founded in 1968.
In 1989, Castle Park, which has a Latino population of nearly 90 percent, became one of the first schools in the nation with a Title I designation (high poverty, low achievement) to have an IB program.
“It's almost like being able to go to a private-school education,” said Jeanne Becijos, who has taught IB classes for three years and has been a teacher for 25.
Exclusively for students in 11th and 12th grade, the IB program has a focused curriculum covering six groups, including language, science and mathematics. Students must also take a “Theory of Knowledge” class to enhance their critical-thinking skills.
“Some people never reach that higher level of thinking,” Becijos said.
All students are eligible for the program, though the school advises students to prepare by taking challenging courses in their first two years of high school. There are 57 students in the Castle Park program, coordinator Ileana Rodriguez said.
The IB program is comparable to the more common Advanced Placement program – also at the school – which allows students to select specific courses instead of requiring them to follow a structured curriculum as in IB. Both programs enable students who pass an exam at the conclusion of each course to receive college credit. Students will typically spend $600 over two years to pay for the six exams for the course groups and other fees. Both IB and AP offer fee reductions for students in reduced-cost or free lunch programs.
International Baccalaureate goes beyond the Advanced Placement program by awarding those who complete all requirements for IB diplomas. There are also sub-levels to the program with fewer requirements, like fewer community service hours, in which students are considered program “associates” or awarded certificates, which are recognized around the world as a sign of the student's skill.
Though the program is challenging, it has given Sesma the support and knowledge to get into college, he said.
“There's a lot of work involved. It's not easy, never going to be easy. If you really want to succeed you do the work and whatever else needed by the program,” he said.
Sesma is one of two Castle Park seniors awarded a Gates Millennium Scholarship, which will pay tuition, room and board for four years of undergraduate study at Georgetown, where he plans to prepare for a career in medicine.
When he told his mother he had been accepted, she said it was “like a dream.” Since separating from Sesma's father a few years ago, she had occasionally worked multiple jobs to support Julian and his brother Jesus, 17.
She only had a simple request of her son.
“She's all like, 'You don't have to work as long as you bring home the good grades,' ” he said.
IB student Michelle Ruiz was the other Gates scholarship recipient.
Ruiz, 18, will be attending the University of California San Diego in the fall to study environmental science. She said she cried when she found out she was one of 1,000 students to receive the scholarship. Ruiz, the only child of divorced parents and first in her family to go to college, said she opted to stay close to home to be with her mother.
In spite of the success of several Castle Park students, many in the IB program said community members do not expect much from the students.
“You're not expected to go to college,” said Ricardo Pimentel, an 18-year-old IB senior and co-valedictorian with Sesma. Both have a 4.5 grade-point averages.
Students said people have made incorrect assumptions about Castle Park. “It's a place to learn. People think there were all these gangs. When you walk around, it's just regular kids trying to get to school,” Sesma said.
Rodriguez, who also is a counselor at the school, said because of the expansion in east Chula Vista, Castle Park is now in, “the old Chula Vista,” which people view as a place of underachievement.
In the 2005-06 school year, according to the California Department of Education Web site, 42.3 percent of graduates who attended Castle Park completed all of the courses required for admission to the University of California or California State University systems. That same year, 37.4 percent of all Sweetwater Union High School District students met the same conditions.
Becijos said she has seen some students leave Castle Park for other schools. “Many of our students are going to other campuses now and missing out on opportunities that we have here,” she said.
Becijos said being in a low-income area also affects the students and how they approach learning. Students from higher income areas will “succeed with or without teachers,” she said.
“They already have the sense that they're going to college and they are going to succeed.” Those in a lower economic bracket may not have that assumption, she said.
Sesma credits his faith in God for his success.
“First and foremost it's God's favor in my life. If you honor God, He'll honor you back,” he said.
Beside that, he said he just “really wanted it.”
He's also motivated by a desire to give back to his mother for all she's done for him.
“When I'm done with medical school, I think she deserves to never work again,” he said.
Sesma said students help each other with homework and even personal issues, even late into the night.
“When I have my weaknesses, they have those strengths I need and vice versa,” he said.
Shauntel Lowe is a San Diego freelance writer.
