(Music)
High school for me was a difficult time.
My family was going through a lot of economic problems.
A lot of problems were happening in my life and I was considering dropping out.
I had no intention of going to college because my grades were very low, my parents were going
through a divorce, and my mother and my sister and I were going from place to place
looking for a place to sleep.
In high school, I thought I was going to go to college.
I didn't know how I was going to make it happen.
I didn't have good examples in my life... neither my mom nor my dad.
I was not motivated at all to finish high school.
I just didn't know what to do.
I doubted myself a lot, and also, like, I didn't know if I,
like, how I was going to pay for college.
Troubled family lives, financial distress, and lack of knowledge on where and how to get started
keep many students from enrolling in college. For those who do enroll,
insufficient guidance about degree requirements and access to academic resources
add to the financial barriers, and correlate with poor progress toward a degree.
I said, 'No, there's no way... I cannot make it.'
But then ACES came and my life changed.
In 2012, Montgomery College, in collaboration with Montgomery County Public Schools
and the Universities at Shady Grove, created an educational partnership designed to identify
and neutralize barriers to academic success.
The Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success program, or ACES, identifies and supports
'high risk' students coming from underrepresented backgrounds
and those who are the first in their family to attend college,
and creates a seamless path from high school to a bachelor's degree.
It's about intentionally, intrusively, and deliberately transforming lives by creating
access and connection from the moment a person steps into high school until the moment they
step into the workplace.
We needed to work together.
We needed to deal with issues of education in the County P-K through 20, but we only
could do that with a strong partnership framework.
In the fall of 2013, the program began at ten Montgomery County public high schools
with largely low-income student bodies.
The majority of students are people of color, and come from a wide range of countries.
The primary tool for mitigating the obstacles these students face
is the insertion of trained coaches at each stage of their educational journey.
We provide resources starting in the high school in their junior year, all the way through
Montgomery College, all the way until they complete their bachelor's degree.
And those resources range from social and emotional support, to workshops,
to financial resources in the form of scholarships.
Essentially we give students all of the resources that they need in order to be successful.
Being able to offer that guidance and be, you know, sort of a guiding hand at the school
and help students navigate the process is really, I think, very beneficial to the students.
When I joined ACES, they gave me that motivation and they gave me that inspiration
to become someone in life and I'm so happy that I joined it.
They've...they've motivated me , they've built myself-esteem up as well.
Being a first generation student, when you get a little nervous, don't know what to do,
you don't have many people to ask.
Thank God I have the ACES program to help me with that.
I can always have someone I can call upon to help me.
It's great to have people backing you up for what you really need to do in your life.
and my counselor, my coach in high school was always there for me.
I really appreciate that because if it wasn't for him, I don't know what I would have done.
While the program is still young, there are already some encouraging outcomes.
ACES has grown from 1,000 students enrolled in the first year to 1,700 by the third year.
At Montgomery College the fall-to-spring retention rate for ACES students is 91%, compared to
71% for the overall student population.
The 2.65 grade point average of MC's ACES students also surpasses
the College's non-ACES GPA of 2.12.
ACES has not only taught me the importance of academics and hard work,
but my participation in the program has shown me the importance
of humility, love, helping others, and giving back.
If there was no ACES program, I wouldn't feel confident about myself,
I probably wouldn't achieve what I've achieved to this day,
and I probably wouldn't have the hope and the...
the high expectations for myself that I have today.
It's...it's amazing.
The long-term success of the ACES program has yet to be determined,
but its innovation is inspiring supporters throughout the county.
The Montgomery College Foundation has provided scholarships worth an average of nearly $233,000
each year to an average of 130 students.
The Montgomery County Council, which initially invested $600,000 in the creation of the program
voted in June 2016 to expand it to two more public high schools,
giving even more students a shot at a college education.
This program is also one that's heavily invested in by private philanthropy,
who believe in scholarships for our students.
That's critical for us.
In the spring of 2016, the first 16 ACES students graduated from Montgomery College,
and ALL of them are enrolled at four-year institutions for the fall.
I am the first generation of the ACES program.
It definitely has been a blessing for me.
If the ACES never existed, then I don't know where I'd be right now.
I probably wouldn't be graduating, with honors.
Being the first one in my family just makes me even prouder.
We will be following their continued progress toward a bachelor's degree closely,
and we welcome the next class of ACES students,
each taking another, courageous step
toward a college degree... and a brighter future.
(Music)