Give students Ritz Crackers, Capri Suns, and more Aim High magic, and they will come. Even after a seven-hour school day, students involved in the Eighth Grade Leadership Academy are hungry for more learning. Launched this fall, the Eighth Grade Leadership Academy, or EGLA, is a high school transition program for recent Aim High graduates. Modeled after Issues + Choices, Aim High’s signature youth development class, students learn about high school options and explore social-emotional content that is relevant and age-appropriate. The first ever EGLA cohort consists of 15 Aim High students who graduated this past summer from our Menlo Park/East Palo Alto and Redwood City campuses.“We like Aim High so much. Even after graduating, we want to extend our time here as much as possible,” said Maria and Araid, former students at the Menlo Park campus.

The program’s leadership is central to its success. Gabe Erdozaincy, coordinator of the Eighth Grade Leadership Academy and Issues + Choices teacher, co-leads the class with Vanessa Murillo, a college-aged teacher and Aim High alumna. Together, they create a classroom environment that is comfortable, engaging, and safe. Many of the students participating in EGLA had Gabe as a teacher during the summer. “We like working with Gabe. We talk about really important things and learn more about high school in ways we don’t at normal school,” said Gabby and Adali. Eighth grade can be a challenging year, both academically and socially, and Gabe and Vanessa want to make sure that their students feel connected to their Aim High community year-round. “Because of the Eighth Grade Leadership Academy, our students know they have options. We want them to take that knowledge and do something empowering with it,” said Vanessa. EGLA convenes twice a month, during which students learn extensively about the high school application process, A-G requirements, and discuss stereotypes and issues of identity—content that is crucial during adolescence, yet minimally covered during the regular school year.

  Beyond Gabe and Vanessa’s carefully crafted curriculum, there is also an Anonymous Question Box where students can drop question sas well as an all-class playlist to which everyone can contribute. Gabe and Vanessa even coordinate one-on-one meetings with each student so they can touch base and see where they may need extra support. “Everytime time I come into the classroom at EGLA, our students are smiling and eager to see me,” said Vanessa. “I know they want to be here.”