High school students from across East Los Angeles convened at the first annual, student-led Dual Enrollment Summit on March 1 at East Los Angeles College (ELAC). Current dual enrollment students shared their experience taking college classes in a panel discussion in front of a packed auditorium of their peers. Participants attended breakout sessions featuring available dual enrollment pathways in:
- Engineering and IGETC (South Gate High, Southeast High, Torres Engineering and Technology Academy, and Torres Renaissance Academy)
- Architecture and IGETC (Wilson High)
- Child, Family, and Education Studies and IGETC (Alhambra Unified and Montebello Unified)
At the event, Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) was presented with the Dual Enrollment Champion Award. The summit also included a research presentation by student fellows from the LA Scholars Investment Fund Broadening the Dual Enrollment Narrative (LASIF BROADEN) Initiative. The student fellows presented their research to an audience of educational and philanthropic leaders in a special session hosted by the California Community Foundation. Their memo, Navigating Dual Enrollment: Los Angeles Scholars Share Their Insights on What Matters Most for Success, details findings and recommendations based on interviews with 58 former dual enrollment students from the LA region.
The student fellows developed the memo as part of a LASIF BROADEN youth participatory action research project facilitated by the John W. Gardner Center at Stanford University. They attend local colleges including ELAC, LA Trade-Technical College, LA Valley College, Pasadena City College, UCLA and CSU Dominguez Hills.
The summit was co-sponsored by the California Community Foundation, ELAC, Alhambra Unified, Los Angeles Unified, and Montebello Unified.