Saratoga News

WVC classes help Latinos move ahead

By Clarence Cromwell

Latino students, who often share similar experiences and backgrounds, are connecting with one another and, at the same time, getting encouragement and tutoring in West Valley College's Puente Program.

The Puente Program features two semesters of special English classes, with a focus on Latin American issues and literature. While attending those classes, Puente students receive academic counseling and meet once a month with a mentor.

In English 105, students sharpen their skills, writing about personal concerns in their daily assignments.

"There's a lot of free writing," said Linda Plutynski, the program's English instructor. "Every single day, they write."

She encourages students to polish their compositions. She shared her motto with a visitor: "Rewrite. Rewrite. Rewrite. Rewrite."

The second-semester Puente class, English 1A, is much like the 1A class other students take, but students base their writings on newspaper and magazine articles on issues of concern to Latinos.

While Plutynski helps students polish their prose, counselor Anjelica Buendia E. helps them fine-tune educational and career plans. She co-teaches each class with Plutynski, all the while encouraging students to transfer to a four-year university. She can help students with numerous issues that college students face: financial aid, tutoring in tough classes, loans for books during cash shortages.

Plutynski said she and Anjelica Buendia E. also try to steer students away from hazards that can potentially wreck their academic careers, such as full-time jobs and car loans.

Tom Moniz, an English instructor at West Valley College and a mentor for two students, doesn't teach Puente classes now, but hopes to some day.

Moniz and Michael Uribes, the student he mentors, are enjoying their meetings, Moniz said, because they share an interest in drama.

Uribes shares stories a former acting student can appreciate, such as trying to finish homework backstage with makeup on during a rehearsal, and weeks of memorizing lines while keeping up with English and math homework.

"I'm just there for him to talk to and for support. I'm going to go see the play he's in," Moniz said. Uribes had several roles in the student production of Threepenny Opera at the college.

Lupe Prieto, an administration of justice major, has attended West Valley College for about two years, but the fall semester was his first in the Puente Program.

Prieto said he learned about Puente from a counselor in the Extended Opportunities Programs and Services office, an office that assists financially disadvantaged students with counseling, tutoring, priority registration and cash grants.

After enrolling in Puente classes, Prieto decided to earn a four-year degree in administration of justice. He already wanted to be a police officer. Buendia E. urged him to complete a four-year degree.

"They want you to always keep in mind you have to go further than junior college," he said. "For me, as a cop, you don't have to go to a four-year college, but [if you do] once you get there, you won't have to start from the bottom," Prieto said.

Prieto said the extra attention from instructors and ties to other students who will attend both semesters of Puente classes with him are important dimensions of the program.

"It's like a family environment," he said. "If you're the person who doesn't like to read aloud, it makes it more comfortable."

Prieto said the program built his confidence. "I always had a mentality that I couldn't do certain things. It was a self-esteem deal, where I would put myself down, saying, 'Maybe I can't do it.' They always said, 'Don't stop. Go further.' They give you that extra push to change from 'I can't do it' to 'I can do it.' "

Michael Mata, Prieto's classmate, said Puente convinced him that he could make it.

"A lot of the attitude with minorities is that we just don't succeed," he said. "You need that push to get some education."

The program's mentors provided part of that push, for Mata, a 34-year-old bus mechanic returning to West Valley College after a seven-year hiatus.

"They've become successful. But they've overcome a lot of discrimination and bias in their careers," he said. "That kind of helps you out, knowing all that stuff," he said. "I can overcome what's happening in the '90s. It's better now."

Mata said he also enjoyed the family atmosphere in the Puente classroom.

"We can relate to so many things in our background. Culturally, you can relate to it so much. There's similar stories. Like parents that weren't very well educated," he said. "Anything from the ethnic food you ate to big families to not being very well off. So many similar things."