Berkeley Scholars to Cal works to close the achievement gap

During spring break last year, tenth-grader Brandon Small toured colleges in Boston and Cambridge and set his sights on MIT. Sixth-grader Malyka Akron "thinks about college a lot" and fantasizes about studying dance at Juilliard. Many of Small's and Akron's peers might not imagine an academic future beyond high school, but Stiles Hall's Berkeley Scholars to Cal program has instilled in the two Berkeley public school kids the belief that they will attend a top-ranked university. Berkeley Scholars helps promising low-income African American and Latino students by providing them with critical academic and social support they need to get into college. On Monday night, Stiles Hall held a celebration at Alumni House for Berkeley Scholars to Cal, as well as for 2020 Vision, a collaboration originated by UC Berkeley, the city of Berkeley, and the Berkeley Unified School District to foster academic success and close the achievement and health gaps for Berkeley's children by 2020. Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, and Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent William Huyett were on hand, along with the program's mentors and staff. But the real stars of the evening were 25 Berkeley High School tenth-graders and two dozen Longfellow Magnet Middle School sixth-graders, whose families had come to cheer their success.