At our 25th Anniversary Gala on November 16, 2011, several Aim High alumni took the stage to share their thoughts on how their lives were changed by their experiences with Aim High.  The following is the text of remarks made by Jessie Escobar, an Aim High-Visitacion Valley alum.  Great speech, Jessie!

Good evening, my name is Jessie Escobar.  It is a pleasure to be here tonight to celebrate such an incredible milestone. I attended Aim High Visitation Valley and graduated from the program in 2002.  Just this spring, I graduated from San Francisco State University and am proudly the first in my family to do so.  Although it has been years since I was a student in the Aim High program, I have been back to be a part of it for many summers, most recently as a lead Humanities teacher at the same site where I once was a student. By being on both sides of the classroom, I have gained some interesting perspective throughout the years. This is what I know… As a young student, Aim High set the stage for me to succeed inside a classroom. It has done that for many students, including my younger brothers and sister, and has done so summer after summer – now for the last 25 years. Aim High has been an influence in my life and in the lives of many others since it empowers young students to trust in themselves and be hopeful learners. Hope is the belief that you can. I am convinced that Aim High is successful because of both what happens in the classroom and through activities, but most of all, Aim High is a successful program because of the people. THE PEOPLE you see in this room are the most special ingredient of the Aim High Magic. During my time at Aim High, teachers like Charles Jolivette and Miss B focused their classrooms to have us learn more about ourselves, our families, and our communities. I still remember the Family Tree Project I did as a student. As a young middle school kid, the most valuable lesson I learned through the project was that I was on my way to quickly becoming the expert of the most important subjects: myself and my family, my community. In that way, Aim High changed the way I saw school and even more importantly, how I saw myself as a student – I became a learner with a belief that I could. Now years later, it has also changed the way I see myself as an educator. Just this summer, my Humanities class put together a book containing the migration stories of the student’s families. We called the book Days to Remember. In this project, there was no right or wrong answer. There was simply a stage to be a storyteller, the opportunity to be the historian for a tale that may otherwise go unheard, and a way to share a family story before it is lost or forgotten. The instructions were clear and the project took the majority of our summer. I gave my students one friendly reminder because I remembered what my teachers had said to me: “Your writing is the voice for someone else. Write with pride and remember that if you get stuck, if you don’t know what to write, you are already the expert. You’re the expert of your own lives.” So on behalf of the former Aim High students like myself, on behalf of my brothers and sister who came through the program, on behalf of my Aim High educators and friends, those in attendance and those in spirit, THANK YOU AIM HIGH for the past 25 summers. Thanks to everyone supporting this amazing program and I hope Aim High will be a part of Visitation Valley for the next 25 years!