ZETA INSIGHT : The S.M.A.R.T Program
Posted on June 8, 2009 by reachroland
In the overall picture, the S.M.A.R.T. program is designed to increase the eligibility and college attendance rates of underrepresented, low-income, and other specifically identified disadvantaged populations.
Abel basically reminisces and tells us the story of how the S.M.A.R.T program initially started, and how it evolved into a program that brings in busloads of students from Bakersfield to experience a life-changing weekend in Santa Barbara.
If there is anything that us as Distinguished Gentlemen want to avoid, it’s segregation, after all Zeta Phi Rho is a multicultural fraternity. However, from time to time a group of let’s say…darker skinned fellas would gather to do some mediocre freestyle rapping. Yup, that was the MCC crew (Multi-Cultural Crew) composed of Moiz Ali, Piaget Jenkins, Salvador Gutierrez, me, and a few guest “rappers.” Our freestyling was inspiring- well, at least it was to us. One night Ali, Sal, Ramiro (a recurring guest on the MCC show) and I were hanging out in the Rec. Room. We talked about college and the fact that many youth from our ethnic backgrounds see college as an impossible feat, or simply never consider it as an option. Many students from minority backgrounds opt out of attending college and go straight into the workforce instead. It was at that moment that we realized that if we found a way to let those students know that they could attain a college education just like us, that we would be able to extend our horizons as a fraternity. Don’t let the old beer smell, sticky floors, and broken window blinds fool you, the Rec. Room is a factory of ideas and inspiration.
Sal and I had been members of Hermanos Unidos (another student organization on campus) for a few years, and had taken part in organizing CLOP (College Link Outreach Program) which allowed students from disadvantaged Los Angeles area high schools to explore UC Santa Barbara for a few days. So we figured that we could do the same. Ali, who was the president at the time said, “Hey man put in on paper and we’ll do this.” So Ramiro and I did just that. We began formulating plans for our program based on my prior experience with CLOP. When we discussed what students we would serve in our program I brought up the fact that CLOP already serves the Los Angeles area and that a few other programs serve students in the Bay Area. This left the central valley out of the picture. I got in contact with my high school counselor who had since then become the director of the “Educational Talent Search Program” at CSU Bakersfield. He liked our idea and said that he would love to take some of his high school participants to our program.
Once we had the program somewhat laid out; and had students to take part in the program, we realized that it was not going to be something we would be able to fund with our member dues. One of my good friends in Hermanos Unidos was the CLOP head-organizer that year and he pointed me in the direction of SIOP (Student Iniated Outreach Programs). SIOP was a committee composed of different university representatives who read grant proposals for outreach programs, and funded those whom they decided where worthy of the money. Ramiro and I filled out the application and drafted the grant proposal in a couple of days. All we had to do now was attend an SIOP informational meeting. When we arrived the room was packed with many representatives of other student organizations on campus. One of those organizations was Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority. As I walked into the room I thought, “We need $10,000 dollars for our program, I’m sure all these people do to…we’re screwed.”
Later that week Ramiro and I were at the library doing study hours for the fraternity. On one of the many study breaks that we took, we wandered around the library and ran into a group of Lambda Theta Alpha members whom I had known for some time. I asked them what their program idea was and much like us and they didn’t really know. Patty and Lorena were LTA’s outreach coordinators for that year. Ramiro, Patty, Lorena, and I decided “Hey, we’re bringing guys and girls to the program. Why not team up and do a program together?” Lorena and I grew up in the same community and were both part of my counselor’s outreach program throughout high school. When Ramiro and I brought up the idea of bringing students from Kern County, Lorena agreed that it would be of great benefit to the students of that area.
We now had the idea, the students, a Zeta Phi Rho and Lambda Theta Alpha team, and most importantly because we were not competing against each other for the funding, we now had the money. Last thing we needed was a name for the program. Patty, Lorena, Ramiro, and I decided to go with an acronym. For about two hours of “study hours” at the library we brainstormed. “M.I.L.K” seemed like a good idea for the program shirts, so we could do “Got M.I.L.K?” but the letters stood for nothing. Then we thought, “think college..think college.” Somehow, (I’m not too clear on how it actually happened) but we ended up with S.M.A.R.T. People in college are smart after all. But what would the letters stand for? Half an hour later we decided it would stand for “Students Making Academics a Reality Today.” It was extremely fitting. We were college students making college academics a reality for high school students.
The day finally came for the students to arrive to sunny Santa Barbara for the experience of their lifetimes, and the beginning of something great for us. I woke up to the sound of thunder and crazy rain. I stood at my balcony window for a moment. Our program was ruined, the tour would be cancelled and we would have to be running everywhere. All I kept thinking was “The students are not going to experience Santa Barbara at its best.” Sadly, I put my suit on walked over to Sal’s room and said “dude, what the F,” to which he replied with something like “don’t worry about it man, it’ll work out.” Surely enough as we went downstairs to the car the rain stopped and the sun shined through. The rest of the weekend was classic Santa Barbara weather, and the program ran smoothly. By the end, about 35 students from underprivileged high schools had experienced living in the dorms, eating at the dining commons, sitting in on college lectures, going to the beach, hearing motivational speakers, and most importantly they experienced leaving home.
One of the students who participated that first year is currently a second year at CSU Bakersfield and is my student assistant. She tells me all the time, “Man Abel the first day of S.M.A.R.T I was like ‘get me out of here,’ but by the end I didn’t want to leave.” Since that first S.M.A.R.T; students who participated, have been turning down offers to universities like UCLA and Cal to attend UCSB. Bryan Ching took over S.M.A.R.T the second year and did an even better job with the program, and was followed this year by a great program led by Alejandro Cervantes. For the Zeta Phi Rho brothers, helping out ended up with an extremely rewarding feeling. They know that they helped make college a reality for a group of students who otherwise would not have given thought to leaving home and becoming educated individuals in society.
I always get praise for “starting S.M.A.R.T.” It is really humbling, but it wasn’t me. It was that talk with the MCC crew, it was Ali supporting the idea, Ramiro and Sal backing me up all the way, Lambda Theta Alpha taking half of the work load, all the bros that served as facilitators for the program the first year and did all the actual organizing, and the counselors at CSU Bakersfield who actually worked with the students on a daily basis.
