The Year Up Experience--and Our Students' Experiences

For those of you who don't know, WLAC hosts Los Angeles Year Up, and we're very proud of the mutually beneficial partnership that we've established.  You may have seen them around campus:  professionally-dressed students going to and from classes in business or computer science, holding special soft-skills workshops (often facilitated through our own noncredit programs) and engaging in special training on professional presentations and workplace protocol.  After a full semester of being WLAC students, they then move on to a paid internship at one of several high-profile companies (e.g., Sony, Amazon, Kaiser Permanente, Hulu).

These students bring to our campus, like so many of our other students, backgrounds marked by significant challenges.  This video, produced by Los Angeles Year Up for an audience of Year Up staff, offers a window into the lives of these students and the obstacles they often address--not only logistically, but perceptually and culturally.  I stated in my Convocation remarks that one of my goals for this year is to develop "a better understanding of the student experience as an integral component of improving persistence, retention, and completion."  This video has broadened my awareness of our students' lives beyond the classrooms and has deepened my respect for their tenacity and their commitment to achieving an education.  I hope you'll find as much value in viewing the video as I did.

My thanks are extended to Tammy Gordon, Year Up Executive Director, for sharing the video with us.