Cuesta Hosts EOPS Conference:

Bridge to Success Program Highlighted

Cuesta’s EOPS Department hosted the once-a-year EOPS (Extended Opportunity Program and Services) Conference, which boasted representatives from about 200 community colleges throughout California. With its theme of “Rooted in Diversity, Growing Towards the Future,” the conference also featured a presentation about Cuesta’s unique Bridge to Success program.

The 35th annual conference was a four-day event and took place in Newport Beach at the Hyatt Newporter earlier this month. About 500 representatives attended, with Cuesta’s entire EOPS staff included. A state-funded program that began in l969, EOPS provides an accessible and rewarding college experience to low income students facing social, economic and educational disadvantages.

Francisco Curiel, Cuesta College Director of EOPS, served as conference chair, and although no Cuesta EOPS students attended, Vice President of Student Services Dan Chacon sat in for one day. In addition, Cuesta’s 2005 EOPS graduate Jeannie Sizemore was prominently featured in the program.

The Bridge to Success talk was helmed by Bridge coordinator/employment specialist Matt Aydelott, who addressed how the program got started more than a decade ago, and how other community colleges might put together a similar curriculum. He also spoke about how EOPS can overlap and interface with Bridge students. Targeting high-school juniors and seniors who are not considered traditional “college material,” Bridge to Success provides an entryway – specifically via Cuesta classes that begin in high school for college credit -- for those who might not otherwise have the benefit of higher education. The course has a retention rate of more than 90 percent, and Aydelott says many of its graduates go on to receive four-year university degrees. “We got a very strong, positive reaction at the conference,” says Aydelott. “There is a tremendous need in this county – and so many others – for this type of program. I had a number of people come up to me afterwards and ask how they could start something up in their area.”