• Let's Get Wired!

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Casa de Amistad

Participants of the Casa’s Study Companions program are 1) low-income preschool-12th grade students from local coastal north county neighborhoods who need academic support to succeed in school, and 2) their parents. Participants are from families in which parents have limited or no English proficiency and 60% or more parents have less than a middle school education. These families tend to live in pockets of low-income housing for residents who work mostly in agricultural, service, childcare, and cleaning industries. Approximately 82% of our families are from households that earn less than $35,000/year. 99% of our students qualify for free/reduced lunch at school.

Study Companion students meet twice weekly during the academic year for 1.5 hours (Tuesdays and Thursdays) with a high school tutor or an adult tutor identified to help the student with school work and character development needs. Tutor/mentors focus on basic common core academic skills such as English language arts and STEAM-related subject matter.

The targeted population experiences lower graduation rates and is at higher risk of dropping out of school than their mainstream counterparts. This population tends to experience higher levels of psychological distress stemming from social, financial, and academic challenges. These stressors, along with the academic pressures of attending the high-performing schools in our area — where students have high levels of English expertise — lead to higher dropout rates for this underserved group.

Our program goals and objectives directly support the local, at-risk population with outcomes that benefit students, families, and the entire community. As a societal problem, youth who drop out of school are likely to be unemployed, and those who do work are at a significant disadvantage, lacking the necessary skills to advance while receiving non-livable wages. Casa de Amistad services instill skills, student confidence, and a sense of value in learning. This increases participant motivation, academic success, school graduation rates, and continuation on to higher education. As a result, students, families, and the entire community benefit.

San Diego Math Circle

The San Diego Math Circle is a consortium of individuals and groups united behind the goal of serving the exceptional educational needs of exceptional mathematics students. SDMC is hosted by the University of California, San Diego, managed by dedicated parent volunteers, and taught by a diverse slate of professionals from the greater San Diego area.

The purpose of SDMC is not only to excel at mathematics, but to develop a broad and deep understanding of how to solve problems. The thought processes developed at the SDMC will help students in any logical endeavor, be it mathematics, science, business, law, etc. Our goal is to teach students how to think creatively and effectively.

SDMC is challenging by design. We believe that students who can solve most of the problems they see are not being challenged enough. We provide hard problems and teach strategies for solving them. In time avid students stretch their problem solving skills while growing in their knowledge of mathematics outside of standard school curricula.