Learning takes a new turn with Vamos

ALEJANDRA CABALLERO

All year long, students wait for the one time of year where they can sleep as long as they want to and plan their day around whatever fun activities they choose. So what would make a middle school student volunteer to wake up at about 5:30 in the morning during her summer vacation? The answer is a program called Vamos a la Universidad.

Vamos is a free summer program for Latino students ages 11-15. The program focuses on developing students' reading and writing talents and abilities. Its main purpose is to equip them with the skills they will need to become leaders in their high school classrooms. The University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education sponsors the program with money from a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Innovation Award.

Alejandra Caballero was among 40 students chosen to participate in Vamos this summer. Other participants were from Clarke, Jefferson, Barrow, Jackson, Oconee, Oglethorpe and Madison counties. The requirements for participation are students must be Latino, Hispanic or Spanish-English bilingual. Evidence of their talent or high potential in reading and writing has to be proven with examples like good grades, writing samples, high scores on standardized tests or recommendation by a teacher or counselor. For participating, each student received a Carnegie unit towards graduation.

“I first heard about it when Mrs. [April] Roberts told me about it,” said Franklin County Middle School seventh grader Alejandra. “I talked to my mom about it and she said I could go if she could find someone to take me. My sister volunteered to drive me to Athens.”

When she arrived in Athens, she and the other Vamos participants were housed in one of the dorms on the UGA campus.

“My roommate didn't show up and neither did the roommates of a few other girls so we all decided to stay in the same room,” Alejandra said. “We pushed the two beds together and there were like five of us sleeping in the same bed.”

She also said the girls had to wake up early in order to have enough time for all of them to shower and be ready for class.

Each day, they had seven hours of critical reading and writing instruction and worked on new reading and writing projects based on what they learned earlier in the day. Classes were held in the journalism building.

“We had homework every day and we had to write about our experiences in a journal,” Alejandra said. “We walked a lot. We had to walk everywhere. The only time we didn't have to walk was in the dorm. We were able to use the elevator then.”

Although they had homework, Alejandra said they still had fun during their experience.

“My favorite part was going to the lake and riding the zip line,” she said.

Even though the students were from different counties, they still bonded and became friends.

“The girls were mostly friends with the other girls and the boys with the other boys, but everybody could say they had at least one friend,” Alejandra said. “I didn't really miss my family because everyone was really nice. I didn't want to leave when it was time to go.”

When asked what she took from the experience, Alejandra said she learned that everybody could make a difference in the world in their own way.