I am an ACE student...well not really.

ACE at the Maricopa Community Colleges stands for Achieving a College Education, it was started in 1988 and is designed to work with high school students "at-risk" of not continuing to pursue a higher education.  The students with these factors traditionally do not attend a higher education institution and fail to make the bridge between high school and college to obtain a four-year degree from an accredited institution like ASU.  There are many at risk factors but typically these are students who are; first-generation college bound, have physical or learning disabilities, from single-parent homes, live at or below the poverty line, work more than 10 hours a week to contribute to the family income, are under-represented minorities in higher education, and/or have dependents that they care for.

The program is structured to introduce college life to these high school students to curve the uncertainty that is associated when students have little experience on how to maneuver a college campus.  Under the programs supervision, students take courses on a community college campus that count as their core requisite classes as they complete their junior and senior year in high school.  They take English 101, 102, humanities courses, critical reading, etc.  All the while they take workshops on how to "speak" college 101, IE: transcripts, syllabus, SAT/ACTs, course maps, bachelors degree, masters, PhD.,etc. are all terms they do not understand and have little exposure to at home.  Although the argument can be made that this ignorance does not determines a persons success in college, the evidence behind the statistics of 1st generation college completion rates versus 2nd generation college completion rates are what the program was founded on.

After having worked for the program for five years and being a first generation student myself I find that although many times we (1st generationers) use these factors as a crutch, in reality it is and was very daunting to overcome.  I can fully associated with the students fear of what college life was like for me the first time I stepped onto the ASU campus.  Which may be why it has taken me 8 years to complete a four year degree, and why till this day I still struggle to believe that I can accomplish a bachelor's degree.  Although I was not an ACE student, I am a student  that shares many of the at-risk factors and through this blog I wish to explore why is has taken me so long to complete this venture.  I hope to further understand and pass along the knowledge I uncover to assist the students I serve to "get over" my at-risk factors and finally achieve a higher education.