Elevate Phoenix and GateWay Community College are expanding its collaborative LIFT for Success program to Camelback High School this summer. The program has only been offered to students at Cesar Chavez High School the last two summers.
This summer will mark the third year for Cesar Chavez High School’s involvement, and LIFT advisors Chris Mims and Lily Lough are pleased to see the growth in the program and the students who are part of the GateWay program.
“Over the course of this program, we have seen our students blossom in ways that have been remarkable to say the least,” said Mims. “From transferring to four-year universities to becoming successful students-leaders engaged in a variety of departments on the GateWay campus, our LIFT students continue to reach new levels of personal and academic success.”
“We are excited for the new addition of Camelback students,” added Lough. “This new expansion is result of the cooperation and commitment from both the Elevate Phoenix Staff as well as the staff and administration of Camelback High School.”
With the addition of Camelback, the program expects nearly 70 new participants to join this summer’s cohort. “This number marks a 206% increase of students enrolled in the LIFT program,” said Mims. “Our desire is to continue to grow the number of participants of the LIFT program at an appropriate pace that ensures the same quality of relationship building and commitment to each individual student.”
The college joined with the local non-profit organization Elevate Phoenix to create LIFT for Success, a summer program which exposes graduating seniors to college staff and resources in an effort to facilitate the transition from high school to college. Naturally, GateWay was an obvious partner to help fulfill the organization’s purpose of stimulating the lifelong success of Arizona’s urban youth through a model of teaching, mentoring, community involvement and character development.
Throughout the program, students meet regularly with a teacher/mentor from Elevate Phoenix and also complete CPD 150, a college success course taught by GateWay Counseling Department Chair Frank Zamora.
In addition, students are offered a full scholarship to attend GateWay Community College as a result of completing the program.
There are preliminary plans to expand the program to North High School for Summer 2014.
Visit Elevate Phoenix for more information.