Lesli Gallegos, left, and Matt Mason work on An application to college in the College and Career Center at Gateway High School. Mason is the coordinator for the center and upon graduating, Gallegos will be a first generation college student in her family. Photo by Philip B. Poston/The Sentinel 
With the help received from the College and Career Center at Gateway High School, Lesli Gallegos hopes to be the first person in her family to become a college graduate. Portrait by Philip B. Poston/The Sentinel 
Matt Mason is the coordinator of the College and Career Center at Gateway High School. Portrait by Philip B. Poston/The Sentinel 
Akrom Amanov hopes to become the first college graduate in his family. With help received at the College and Career Center he was able to succesfully submit his applications for school and has already received early acceptance to a few institutions in the state. Portrait by Philip B. Poston/The Sentinel
AURORA | Lesli Gallegos is a senior at Gateway High School in Aurora Public Schools – and a Mexican-born immigrant living in the country through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Like many students in APS, she strives to be the first college graduate in her family with the help of a new college and career resource center at Gateway.
Gallegos’ family doesn’t understand the college admissions process, she said, or how much money an expensive four-year degree could cost. Plus, as a DACA recipient, she’s not eligible for federal student aid.
She used to believe college was out of the question.
“It is a scary thing for first-generation students,” she said.
Now, she plans to enroll at Colorado State University’s design and merchandising program with the help of Matt Mason, the first full-time college and career center coordinator at Gateway.
The resource center is the fourth at high schools in APS and the latest in a host of measures to boost low college enrollment from a student population largely living in poverty or learning English as a second language.
The resource center occupies a wing of the school library, but will have its own space after construction over winter break.
Last week, about a dozen students gathered there to talk and hash out their plans after graduating Gateway. Gallegos regularly meets with Mason to shop options, like scholarships or work-study programs she is eligible for to help her pay through school.
Another student hanging out in the center, Akrom Amanov, came to the U.S. at 7 years old when his family immigrated from Uzbekistan.
Whereas Gallegos doubted she would ever go to college, Amanov said he couldn’t see himself even finishing high school. Now, he’s applied to several in-state schools but hopes to study architecture at Syracuse University in New York.
Without Mason, he said, he wouldn’t know how to get important information from his parents like tax returns for the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid program.
Mason, the resource coordinator, understands the challenges. He was also a first-generation college student.
“If anything, it’s more difficult when it was when I was in it,” he said of applying to college.
Mason spends his days working with individual students. Last week, he waved to students peeking in through the window of his office who were looking for him. He said it’s not uncommon for many students like Gallegos and Amanov to spend their lunch breaks in the resource center.
The space at Gateway is the fourth in APS’ seven high schools, and was funded by a $75,000 grant from Wells Fargo after the district approached the bank for a donation, according to Amy Raaz, interim director at the APS Foundation.
Dackri Davis, the director of college and career success at APS, said foreign-born and impoverished students have special challenges when getting to college.
From 2015 through 2017, about forty percent of APS students enrolled in some kind of formal education after high school – be it a four-year, liberal arts degree or welding in technical college. That’s well below the state average.
There are big reasons to enroll.
By 2025, about two-thirds of the state population will need to hold some kind of post-secondary degree to survive in the workforce, according to a Colorado Department of Education report.
However, the financial burden on Colorado families has skyrocketed since the turn of the century, presenting challenges for low-income students.
In response, Davis said, APS has expanded resources to teach information about college and prepare students.
Students can complete more than half of an associate’s degree or certificate with the Community College of Aurora while still in high school. Increasingly, students also enroll full-time at the community college after graduating high school to finish the degree, said Dr. Bobby Pace, chair of social sciences at CCA.
In high school, students can also take classes specifically on note-taking, test preparation and organization while earning election credit.
If a first-generation student wants to visit a college, but may have trouble affording a trip, funds from the state education department can be used for travel expenses – and later, a scholarship to the school.
Amanov, the Uzbek student at Gateway, said college is going to be a big challenge. It will be his first time living alone and taking care of himself, he said, but it’s worth it.
“Hopefully,” he said, “I can become who I want to be in the future.”