May 23, 2022

“KidWorks is important to me because it’s the first place where I felt comfortable asking for help. They helped me so much by providing tutoring with all my classes. Because I was an English learner, I was unable to understand my assignments. It was very difficult for me the first year of high school. But at KidWorks I found the help I needed. My years through high school would have been more difficult without KidWorks.”

Merlin A.

Merlin is one of KidWorks class of 2022 high school graduates.  She is headed to Colgate University in New York to study education and Spanish.  Her sentiments reflect the positive impact we are able to have on so many students through KidWorks College Success Initiative™ (CSI).

Merlin credits involvement in CSI and teachers like Ms. Brenda and Ms. Erika for giving her a vision for college and helping her along the way. 

For the past eight years, 100 percent of high school seniors enrolled in our programs graduate. Even more impressive, is that 100 percent of these seniors will further their education this fall.

Those are very impressive results, since the latest statistics available from 2021 show that 90.8 percent of Orange County high school seniors graduate. The statewide rate is only 83.6 percent.

“I’m so proud of our students’ resilience,” says Brenda Trujillo Sanchez, our College and Career Manager. “Although they faced challenges, both academically and personally during the pandemic, they persevered.”

Brenda adds, “The students’ adaptability was admirable as they kept up with their responsibilities in the face of the pandemic. I’m excited to continue seeing them grow and use what they learned at KidWorks at their respective colleges and universities.”

KidWorks senior Freddy Fuentes will be attending Santa Ana College this fall. He believes that KidWorks helped him gain skills for college and beyond, “KidWorks is the place where I developed confidence, life-long friendships and learned to be a leader.” 

Contributing significantly to students’ academic success is KidWorks’ College Success Initiative™ (CSI). The initiative prepares first generation college students for higher education and includes our College Apps Academy, college tours, engagement with our college counselor, internships, care packages for our college students and more.

The KidWorks high school class of 2018 was the first to benefit from CSI and they’ll be graduating this year.

Those grads include Emelyn A., who earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal studies from Vanguard University and Annie T., who earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in animation from California State University, Long Beach. Several more students will be completing degrees in the fall.

Please join us in celebrating KidWorks class of 2022. We wish them all the best as the pursue higher education and beyond.