For many incoming students at California State University, Northridge, college was once a dream that seemed unattainable. But thanks to peer mentoring programs featuring current Matador students offering real-life counsel, thousands of local high school and community college transfer students made the giant leap — and one small step closer to an undergraduate degree.

The programs reach out to local high schools such as Taft, Monroe, Cleveland and Van Nuys — as well as community colleges such as Pasadena, Glendale and Pierce — offering assistance with university applications and inspiring students to continue on to higher education. With seven peer mentors on staff, the CSUN Outreach Internship Program (OIP) provides some form of support to more than 10,000 students every year to help them reach their goals of going to college.

CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison explained that the university is in a prime location to enrich the community today and in the future.

“As one of the largest universities in the country, serving the Los Angeles metropolitan area, CSUN is perfectly situated to reach traditionally underserved students and put them on the path to success,” she said. “We have found that providing near-peer opportunities that connect our students with local high school students often makes all the difference in the world for those who may not have seen themselves attending college.”

Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students William Watkins ’74 (Urban Studies) explained the importance of offering high school students guidance throughout what can be a confusing process of choosing a college and completing paperwork for financial aid and scholarships. As a student, Watkins said, he received support from the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and learned firsthand how important that assistance was on the path to graduation.

“Colleges and universities, and particularly public ones like Cal State Northridge, understand and embrace our obligation to help the community understand how they can get to college,” Watkins said. “It is symbolic of our mission in the Office of Student Outreach and Recruitment Services.”

Taft High School student Caleb Snowden said that applying for college seemed like a major challenge until an OIP Near Peer mentor named Alexxa Wimberly came to his aid.

“When I came to the college office here at Taft, I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I saw Alexxa, and I asked her a question about how I should go about going to college. She took me all the way through. She didn’t just give me a couple of tips and say ‘go on ahead, do what you have to do about it.’ She actually walked me through everything, and helped me do my whole application to go on to CSUN.”

OIP, launched in 1990 , sends CSUN students out to local high schools and community colleges to provide mentoring to young people who are contemplating going to college. In some instances, students who did not consider college an option found that what they were hoping for was waiting for them at CSUN.

Many of the teens receiving counseling would be the first in their families to attend college, so they often gravitate to OIP mentors — young people who were in their shoes just a few years before. Wimberly said she is grateful that she can relate to the students she helps.

“The types of students I work with definitely remind me of myself because we come from similar backgrounds,” she said. “I work with an ethnically diverse group of students. And I see it in them. I see that they want to go [to college], and I see that they do need help being put on the correct path. I can point them and show them that, ‘Hey, this is the path you want to go to. I know where you’re standing. I’ve been where you’re standing, and these are the steps you need to take.’”

Fellow OIP Near Peer Mentor Stephanie Morales agreed with Wimberly, adding that her age helps gain the teens’ trust.

“Oftentimes I do think that the age gap, which is very small, plays a big role in them trusting me,” she said. “They feel more at ease that I am not judging them. I am just here to help. When it’s somebody that’s closer in age to you or someone from your community that isn’t your teacher, then I think they listen and they’re able to grasp it.”

Monroe High School student Maria Guevara said she feels more comfortable working with a mentor who is close to her age, like Morales.

“Having somebody closer to my age makes me know that they can relate to me as well, because they’ve been through the process,” she said. “I feel that they understand us more than any other person would. Like my parents, I don’t think that they understand what the process of going to college and applying to college is as [Morales] does, because she has recently been through it.”

Guevara and Snowden are two of the program’s many success stories, recently receiving their own college acceptance letters to enroll at CSUN in the fall. Their mentors, the OIP interns and current CSUN students, are almost as excited as the newly accepted. The interns experience a true sense of pride in the roles they played guiding the teens toward college, they said.

Beyond outreach at the high schools themselves, the Near Peer Program also provides an opportunity for students to preview the campus through events such as Explore CSUN, which takes place on April 18. The popular weekend event offers high school students and their parents the opportunity to tour the campus and learn about the university.

Watkins said he sees the “exploration” visits as a way to educate parents about what their children will experience in the years ahead.

“When they come out for these preview days or Explore CSUN, it’s our opportunity to say, ‘thank you for entrusting your son or daughter to Cal State Northridge,’” he said. “’We want to send them back to you as a graduate. So we want you to have some knowledge about where they are going to be.’”

Wimberly called the exploration days a wonderful and vital part of the outreach program.

“They get to see CSUN as an actual place, and you can see them start picturing themselves as students here,” she said. “This program is really important because it educates the students, and it opens their eyes and their minds and causes them to dream — and be able to start working towards a dream.”

For more information on student outreach programs at CSUN, explore the links below:

• Education Opportunity Program: http://www.csun.edu/csun-eop

• Campus Tours: The student-led tours allow individuals, families, school groups and organizations to visit major points of interest on campus while learning about life as a CSUN student. You can learn more about them at http://www.csun.edu/outreach/campus-tours%20

•  Upward Bound: The program works with young people in grades 9-12, assisting students in completing high school and pursuing a college degree. Find out more about them at www.csun.edu/trio/upward-bound

• Outreach Internship Program (OIP)- To learn more about the program, click on the link: http://www.csun.edu/~hfout007/services/internships.htm

EOP, Featured, OIP, Students