In light of continual funding cuts to
Diego
California Student Opportunity and Access Program — it’s refreshing to see
students picking up the slack.
Last year’s Promoting Understanding and Learning through
Service and Education referendum bundled the Academic Success Program and the
Student Initiated Outreach and Recruitment Commission into the
for Education and Service, and together, the three programs are largely
supported by student fees. The referendum added $7 — $5 of which goes to the programs
while the remaining $2 is marked for financial aid — to the then-$21 quarterly
campus activity fee.
The students involved with S.P.A.C.E.S. have continued to
support the two previously established programs all year in addition to working
on a number of new initiatives. The program hosts diversity-themed campus
tours, sends delegates to high school outreach conferences and is setting up
its own newsletter — all this in just two quarters.
S.P.A.C.E.S. is focused on reaching out to underrepresented
high school and community college students in order to provide them with
important information about how to apply to and succeed in college. The center
is also working on a variety of programs to increase retention and graduation
rates and assist with the transition into graduate and professional schools.
All of the S.P.A.C.E.S. projects are student led, which is
even more exciting than the excellent work it has already completed. Outreach
and retention are vital to
future, though government authorities and lawmakers have consistently dropped
the ball in funding them. The students involved with S.P.A.C.E.S. deserve great
applause for all their work to help future UCSD students.
It’s great to see the student-led initiative thriving, and
equally excellent that the P.U.L.S.E. referendum proved to be money well spent.
