What EJ Has Learned From His First Year of 
College!
When EJ was in high school, I pushed him to pass his AP classes so he could receive credit for his lower division college courses while in high school. By the end of his first year in college, he had just two of these courses left to complete. Typically, the advanced math and science classes are defined by the students as “weeder courses” because these courses weed out the students who question the incredible success that they achieved in high school and drop or change their college goals. The realization that a student’s hard work and success in high school can become challenging at an outstanding college is humbling.
Yvette King-Berg, is the Executive Director of Youth Policy Institute’s Charter Schools. She was the former California Charter Schools Association Vice-President of School Development and Outreach-Southern California. Ms. King-Berg has over thirty years of experience working with teachers, students, parents, and organizations in a variety of positions including Director, Assistant Director, Curriculum Advisor, Bilingual, and Title 1 Coordinators, classroom teacher (K-12) in Pasadena and LAUSD. She has been married for twenty-three years, and is the proud mother of her son, EJ, who attends UC Berkeley.
EJ has had an incredibly exciting and busy year as a college sophomore attending a university in the SF Bay Area. We have enjoyed our visits with him at school and during the winter break at home. EJ is now busy with his spring semester and taking a demanding course load.
Parents ensure that their children get enough sleep, make healthy food choices, and are ready to learn. Parents must also consider what they need to do for themselves for self-care. We are our children’s first and primary teachers. We should model the healthy lifestyle that we want our children to follow.
Our middle school’s teachers have dedicated themselves to promoting literacy in all subject areas this year because many of our students are not reading and writing at grade level. Our 7th grade teachers decided to have their students participate in the NaNoWriMo National Novel Writing Month last November.