Our Program
A unique, process-driven approach to delivering outstanding results for our students.
College Is Real helps students at Richmond’s three public high schools (Richmond, De Anza and Kennedy) in Richmond, California become the first in their families to attend and graduate from college. CIR has grown from its initial sixteen students in 2005 to well over 450 high school students, 100 middle school students and more than 400 CIR alums attending college.”.
“From being a CIR student to becoming a part of the CIR team, I was able to experience the program at both ends of the spectrum. As a student, I wasn’t able to fully appreciate all aspects of the program. Now, as a member of the CIR team, I greatly appreciate the resources CIR offers and understand its value especially in the City of Richmond. The difference between CIR and other college preparatory programs is the way it operates. CIR is always seeking ways to improve and implement new ideas that will benefit past, current, and future students.”
– Destiney Norsouvanh, UC Santa Barbara Grad, Former CIR program Director
Academic counseling
CIR’s directors helps students design their high school academic program in order to meet four-year university admissions requirements (“A-G” requirements in most cases). CIR is the only full-time, on-campus non-profit academic organization at Richmond, De Anza, and Kennedy High Schools;
College application assistance
CIR’s directors, mentors and other volunteers assist and oversee CIR’s juniors and seniors with the college application process. CIR often pays application fees for students who apply to more colleges than government fee waivers cover;
College tours
CIR organizes multiple California college campus visits each year in order to expose our students to the college environment and to motivate them to think about opportunities beyond their local community;
Community service
CIR organizes and sponsors various community service activities for its members in order to spread its college aspiration message to the community and to give its members and opportunity to “give back” to the community while helping to strengthen their college applications;
Scholarships
CIR awards college scholarships to its graduating seniors at its annual recognition dinner which is attended by CIR members, their families and mentors; CIR also awards scholarships to sophomores and juniors attending summer college prep programs. CIR provides merit scholarships to its alumni attending college;
College test preparation
CIR provides a multi-week SAT and ACT screening and preparation course;
College Success Program
The College Success Program’s mission is to support CIR high school graduates for their journey in college degree attainment. We want to support students to help them successfully transition into college, excel in college, and plan for a meaningful career and life beyond college. CSP is an initiative aimed at combating the challenges that our students, primarily first generation, low-income students of color, face in their pursuit of college degrees.
Mentoring
CIR has three mentor models: individual, virtual, and group. Students are either provided with one volunteer mentor to meet with in person or virtually periodically throughout their high school career, or participate in group mentoring where they meet with a group of mentors monthly. Mentors act as a counselors and friends in order to help the students believe in themselves and be accountable to a knowledgeable college graduate. The mentors are business people, former Richmond High and De Anza High students who have attended college and community leaders;
summer bridge program
CIR puts on a summer program to help students smoothly transition from middle to high school. Students learn about high school graduation and college admission requirements, SAT and ACT testing, and the importance of getting involved in extracurriculars. Students also will learn about email etiquette, resume building, and public speaking skills.
Career Education
CIR provides career education opportunities for its students via field trips to companies' offices, participation in special events such as STEM eduction days and on-campus speakers who discuss their backgrounds, education and career paths.
Alliances
The CIR financial model is to operate as a lean and efficient organization so that more than 90% of the funds we raise go to programs directly benefitting our students. CIR has implemented a unique strategy of forming alliances with synergistic third-party educational organizations that provide supplementary support to CIR's students while in high school and then as they start their college years. Examples of this include STEM awareness programs, a SAT prep program geared for low-income minority students, a coaching program to assist with college essays and applications, and a program geared to support our students in what is a difficult transition for many of them during their freshman year at college. We continually review other alliances to expand CIR's offerings and help our students and alumni become even more successful in gaining admission to, and graduation from, college as well as competing in the workplace upon graduation.
Scholarship Awards
A substantial portion of CIR's annual fundraising goes toward scholarships. CIR provides scholarship grants to all its graduating seniors who will be attending college and, on a selective basis, to alumni in college. CIR also provides scholarships to its high school students attending college summer enrichment programs. CIR's goal is to expand its scholarship awards to as many of its alumni attending college as possible and to increase the amount it gives to graduating high school seniors to help "fill the gap" between financial aid awards and the expected family contribution, which many families are unable to provide. Without CIR's scholarship grants many of our alumni would not be able to attend or graduate from a four-year college.
