‘We want them to know there is something waiting for them.’ Camden students get counseling for life after high school

A cheer erupted at Woodrow Wilson High School when senior Angel Ramos announced that he had received his second college acceptance and scholarship award.

Ramos, 18, and other Camden public school students are getting one-on-one counseling in the recently launched “12+” center, designed to help them figure out life after high school. An aspiring video gamer, Ramos credits the staff with helping him complete college applications.

”With this program, you’re able to stay on task with everything you need,” said Ramos. “They will help you step by step.”

The district received a $370,000 grant from the Camden Education Fund, a nonprofit that is working to improve the city’s troubled public education system, to set up in September the “PLUS” centers at Woodrow Wilson in East Camden and across town at the Camden High School complex in Parkside.

Based in Philadelphia, the 10-year-old 12+ has placed 10 staff members in Camden’s traditional high schools to work with ninth through 12th graders, said Raymond John, the program’s founder and chief executive officer. Created to promote educational equity, the program — now operating in five schools and serving 2,500 students — helps students determine postsecondary goals, apply for college, and complete financial-aid paperwork.

”We just don’t want their learning to end after 12th grade,” John said. “We want them to know that there is something waiting for them.”

The Camden school system, under state control since 2013 when former Gov. Chris Christie took over the district, has boosted its graduation rate, from 49% in 2012 to about 58.5% in 2021. (The state average is about 90%.) The dropout rate, which represents those who enter ninth grade but don’t earn a diploma within five years, has also improved slightly, from 21% in 2012 to about 18.3% in 2021 — compared with the state average of about 3.2%. Ten of the district’s schools, once rated among the worst public schools in the state, have since been removed from that list, but thousands of students have fled to Renaissance and charters in the city.

Camden school officials believe the 12+ center, now a popular hangout for students like Ramos at Woodrow Wilson, will help student achievement. The center is called “12+” so students envision life after they complete 12 years of education. Officials conduct college visits and hold career exploration programs.

”The ultimate goal is to motivate them,” said Shay Columbus, the site director for the program at Woodrow Wilson. “We really want them to be prepared for the real world. “

Every student is encouraged to apply to Camden County College as part of the new Garden State Guarantee, a program that allows eligible students who complete two years at a community college to get free tuition for their last two years at a public university.

Because college is not a viable choice for all students, Columbus also helps students navigate other options, such as technical trade school, the military, or the workforce. She sees about 20 to 30 students on an average day.

Columbus students at Woodrow Wilson have submitted about 100 college applications so far this school year. The school, which will be renamed Eastside High next year, enrolls about 600 students, with 78 seniors.

”Our guidance counselors do an excellent job, but they can’t do it all,” said history teacher Michael Warren, who conducts a senior seminar where students also get help with college and career planning. “Our students need a bit of assistance.”

Ramos, the first in his family headed to college, wants to be a role model for his two brothers and two sisters to show them that “with hard work, you can achieve something better.”

Without help, Ramos said, he would have had difficulty completing his college essays and financial-aid forms. He applied to four colleges and was accepted by two: Bloomfield College and Stockton University. The hard part now is deciding where to enroll in the fall, he said.

”I want to make my four years of college the best years of my life,” Ramos said.

Bryan Izquierdo, 17, worked with Columbus on a recent Friday morning to finish several college applications. The aspiring athletic trainer or sports therapist hopes to land at his dream school — Rowan University.

“I wasn’t taking high school seriously,” Izquierdo admitted. “They motivated me to go to college and be something. I want to make my family proud.”

Students say the center also offers a safe place where they can spend time with friends or eat lunch. Counselors are available to talk about whatever is on their minds, whether it’s relationships, pending adulthood, or how the pandemic has changed school.

“COVID has exacerbated the barriers that our students face in the college admissions process,” Superintendent Katrina McCombs said in a statement, “but as always, we are determined to level the playing field between Camden students and students in our neighboring districts.”

Izquierdo earned praise from Columbus when he disclosed that he scored his first points as a varsity basketball player this season. He also plays football and baseball.

”That’s to be celebrated,” Columbus said.