Anteater Academy College Acceptances (77 Total Students)

The Anteater Academy was created at Valley HS to increase the number of students that were being accepted to and attending four-year universities. In 2012 when the program was created, 40 total students at Valley attended a four- year university and out of those, 11 of them attended a University of California campus.

Many programs, teams, teachers, and in particular the counseling/Ms. Gibbs have existed and been successful at Valley for many years and deserve lots of credit and recognition for their contribution to these students’ success.

Anteater students are members of the Valley HS Inc academies (12 students), AVID (37 students), NAC (16 students), sports teams (70 students), VAPA programs (25 students), ASB, Boys and Girls Club, UCI EAOP, among many others.

Below is a summary of the results of the Anteater Academy’s first graduating seniors, the class of 2015.

Anteater Academy College Acceptances (77 total students) 73 accepted into a four-year university (95%) 50 accepted into a UC/Pac-12/Cal Poly-STEM/Ivy (65%)

Valley HS College Acceptances 153 accepted into a four-year university 72 accepted into a UC/Pac-12/Cal Poly

This is a significant increase over last year (2014) when 93 students were accepted into a four-year university and 26 students were accepted into a UC and an even larger increase compared to 2012.

Where the Anteaters are going (77 students)

This is a breakdown of where the Anteaters are attending college next year.

Top CSU - Community No Ivy League UC/Pac-12 STEM CSU/other College college 1 Columbia 4 Berkeley 1 SDSU 13 Fullerton 7 OCC 4 UCLA 3 Pomona 2 LA 6 SAC 3 Davis 1 S.L. Obispo 1 Chico 1 Fullerton 5 UCSB 1 San Jose 12 Irvine 1 Humboldt 5 Merced 1 Dominguez 1 Riverside 1 Azusa 1 USC 2 Washington

1 37 5 20 14 0 CSU/other 4- Community year: College UC / Pac12 / Cal Poly STEM / Ivy: 43 out of 77 = 56% 20 out of 77 = 14 out of 26% 77= 18%

Attending a four-year university: 63 out of 77 = 82%

By comparison, 16 total students at Valley attended a UC last year (2014). The year the Anteater program was created in 2012, 11 total students at Valley attended a UC and 40 Valley students attended a four-year university.

The increase of college acceptances in 2015 occurred school wide and not just within the Anteater program. Valley HS Anteater Academy Class of 2015

Small Learning Community:

The core of the Anteater program is the Small Learning Community. Students develop a togetherness and group mentality and determination that each of them will succeed individually with the assistance from the cohort as a whole. Each and every student wavers and struggles at times throughout their four years, but they have lots of support and a history of success to lean on. Younger students hear from older students about how they overcame similar challenges and those older students mentor and advise the younger students about how they can be even better. The students take comfort and stay motivated knowing that previous students have went through the same battles and have come out on top.

Student growth:

Many of these students have exhibited great growth and were not always such fantastic students and people. There are plenty of examples of this but I want to focus on the student that I feel has grown the most. Ana Karen Herrera was a freshmen in a math support class, and is now attending UCI and planning on majoring in engineering. Ana is well recognized at Valley as one of the hardest working and most deserving students. She was the winner of the counseling center’s Soroptimist award, the science departments Principal’s Medallion, Mr. Valdez’ counselor’s award, and many other recognitions. As her Calculus teacher, I awarded her with an award for being the very best Calculus student during the first semester. These achievements are particularly noteworthy considering her math level as a freshman.

GATES Millennium, scholarships, and recognition:

Cesar Ibarra and Yerik Macias won the most prestigious and financially beneficial scholarship, the GATES Millennium Scholarship which pays for all of their college expenses. Most students won a scholarship of some kind with many others getting full rides, including Yvette Sanchez to Berkeley and Alejandro Flores to UCLA.

UC Irvine and their EAOP center recently commented that the Anteater Academy has dramatically increased the number of college acceptances at Valley and is working on producing a publication. At a recent event at Santa Ana HS with the president of the UC system, the president mentioned the Anteater Academy as a great local program that helps students get into college. To see this, visit https://vimeo.com/128524255 and go to the 13:00 mark .