“The best thing that ever happened to us!”
When a twin enjoys something that transforms their life, they are very likely to immediately, and excitedly, share it with the other twin. In fall 2023, this was the experience shared by Aracely (above left) and her twin, Yarely (right), when Aracely’s life was transformed through the learning culture.
At San Diego’s Sweetwater High School, Aracely distinguished herself as a high-achieving scholar and leader, with great potential for future success. Academically, she succeeded in a variety of twelve AP courses, and she participated – often holding leadership positions, in numerous student clubs and extracurricular activities. Additionally, she benefited from the support, mentorship, and student development opportunities provided by national college prep programs for “high-achieving, under-resourced students from economically disadvantaged communities,” including Thrive Scholars and First Gen Scholars. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising when Aracely was accepted to begin her engineering studies in fall 2023 at Harvey Mudd College (HMC), a prestigious private college, among the Claremont Colleges, with a curriculum which “integrates vigorous STEM and liberal arts courses to educate talented scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.” She was also selected for the HMC President’s Scholars Program, a “renewable, four-year, full-tuition scholarship program that identifies and encourages outstanding scholars who have the potential to be future leaders in engineering, science, mathematics and technology, and who are committed to making an impact in their community and in the world.” Although she was a first-generation college student, with her exceptional pre-college experience, Aracely was poised for guaranteed success at HMC, but this didn’t happen. Instead, she was overwhelmed by the rigorous HMC academic experience, and she was sent home on conditional academic leave after only one semester, with the opportunity to return to HMC after demonstrating her ability to excel in challenging coursework taken at her local community college – more on this later. How could this devastating experience happen to such a bright, talented student as Aracely? Where did the “system” fail her? Answer: Very easily because she lacked “learning culture” – including 1) having a mindset for learning, and 2) knowing how to approach the learning, in her foundation for learning. Unfortunately, rather than being made explicit, the learning culture was implied throughout her academic journey, yet Aracely was expected to know and apply it to succeed at HMC.
I am the proud Mexican American son of immigrant parents from Mexico and the oldest of four children. In the mid-1970s, through San Diego Unified’s Voluntary Ethnic Enrollment Program, I was bused from my diverse east San Diego neighborhood of Encanto to Pershing Junior High School, then Patrick Henry High School, in a more affluent, predominantly White neighborhood. I benefited from quality education in advanced classes, and I developed strong college prep skills, making me the only Latino valedictorian in the class of 1982. Like Aracely, I was that kid – first-generation in college, economically disadvantaged, and underrepresented in STEM, when I began my engineering studies at HMC after graduating from high school – I too experienced a rude awakening from the rigors of HMC. I didn’t know anyone who went to college from my neighborhood. What did I know about the learning culture? Nothing! As we know from the completion rates in higher education, I too was in the dark, but I was one of the lucky ones. I have a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from HMC and a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from USC. I could not tell you then how I did it. I simply survived by instinct, but I know it now. It is called learning culture!
Known as “Corner Man” by my students, I founded the San Diego City College (SDCC) MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) Program in 2000; however, informed by research on college readiness and success, I have been transforming student lives and increasing student success using learning culture since 2009. Student potential is not questioned in the learning culture. All students have many strengths and great potential, but they also have gaps. When students have a low GPA, fail classes or drop out of college, a key reason for this is that they have gaps, and, like Aracely, they have not been introduced to the learning culture. The challenge for students is to learn the learning culture and use it to fill their gaps to create their own success and achieve their goals.
Fortunately for Aracely, when she returned to San Diego, someone, who was familiar with my work as MESA Director and my background as an HMC alumnus, said to her, “You have to go see Rafael!” She did, and I was immediately very impressed by her maturity, outlook, and overall personality. It was clear that she belonged at my HMC, but my HMC failed to empower her with the learning culture. I would not make this mistake. Her case became a personal matter for me, and I committed to having her return to HMC as a rising scholar and leader, beginning with Aracely completing the online, self-paced learning culture training plan for students – this is the same training that I required of all students when joining my SDCC MESA Program! Next, we determined her schedule of spring classes. To be eligible for reinstatement, HMC required Aracely to challenge herself by repeating and succeeding in physics mechanics and calculus III, plus one other STEM class. I agreed with this plan, except that I advised her to take calculus II to strengthen her math foundation before repeating calculus III in the summer – and she did! Although her classes provided a great challenge (for any student!), in the light of the learning culture and demonstrating that she was truly in control of her learning, Aracely attacked the challenge with great determination and purpose. In the process, she learned firsthand that she has what it takes to succeed, and, empowered with the learning culture, she knows that she defines herself through her actions, rather than being defined by others, outcomes or situations – this is true power! I’m very proud of her. She returned to HMC in fall 2024 and proceeded to have a successful semester. Currently, building on lessons learned from fall, she is enjoying a successful spring semester, and it will only be a matter of time before she graduates from my HMC! Click this link (tinyurl.com/85dt4bvv) to enjoy “meeting” Aracely and learning her story on the Turning on the Lights show on YouTube.
Aracely’s success story is remarkable enough, except that she has a twin, Yarely, majoring in urban studies & human biology at Stanford University – I didn’t know Aracely had a twin! Back when I began empowering Aracely in fall 2023, she immediately shared the learning culture with Yarely, who also completed the learning culture training plan, and this too helped to transform Yarely’s life from a freshman suffering anxiety in the dark to a rising scholar in control of her learning in the light of the learning culture. Yarely proceeded to apply the learning culture to create her own success in the remainder of the 2023-2024 academic year, and she too proved to herself that she has what it takes to succeed. When I had the pleasure of meeting the rising scholar Yarely, she excitedly shared as a true twin, “Aracely being sent away on academic leave from Harvey Mudd was the best thing that ever happened to us!” I agree! Yarely eagerly returned to Stanford in fall 2024 with great confidence, and she proceeded to excel in the fall quarter. Earlier this spring, she made my day when she sent the following text:
“Hi Corner Man, I wanted to let you know that I got a summer research position offer for my top lab of choice! I will be working this summer as a research assistant for the SPARK Lab (Stanford Project on Adaptation and Resilience in Kids), and will be learning about stress physiology and the biological bases of self regulation, and be trained in data collection and data processing protocols. I’m super excited, and I wanted to say thank you so much for your support! I will be reviewing Part IV of Turning on the Lights as I prepare for this opportunity, and will be seeking your guidance later on how to be most successful this summer! For now, I need to focus on the rest of the battle that is finishing out winter quarter strongly and beginning spring quarter in a month strongly as well.”
I’m also very proud of Yarely. She too epitomizes the power of the learning culture, and, yes, Part IV Section 5 – Summer Research Programs (pages 188-201 in Turning on the Lights and time 24:31-34:11 in the Part IV training video available at tinyurl.com/5n6ad7bt) reviews the process from finding summer programs to making the most of the summer experience with a 10-point strategic plan for summer programs, plus information about the personal statement and letters of recommendation.
As captured in Turning on the Lights, beyond developing scholars, the learning culture develops leaders, but our educational leaders must be “student-centered” and have the urgency to “turn on the lights” to help transform student lives!