‘They are smart and haven’t been told they are smart’

In a computer lab at the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley Central High School student John Rodriguez worked on a biology essay and math problems earlier this month.

If Rodriguez ran into any problems or questions with his assignments, he turned to 28-year-old Armando Meza, a teacher, tutor, advocate and, in some cases, a mentor or big brother to Rodriguez and other students in the eight-week summer session that wrapped up late last week.

Rodriguez and 97 other high school students from Central, Greeley West and Northridge participated in the summer learning as a continuation of their academic work in the Greeley-Evans School District’s year-round Student Recovery Program.

The Student Recovery Program is a 14-year-old dropout prevention initiative for District 6 Latino male high school students, who were significantly at higher risk than their peers of dropping out of high school when Greeley resident and education advocate Bob Tointon raised the idea of the program.

“When I first got here, I didn’t think it was as useful as it was,” said Rodriguez, a 15-year-old and soon-to-be junior at Central. “Armando explained how to do the (math) problems, and then he let me do it on my own. I like school; it’s just a challenge.”

The program identifies students who’ve failed a core class, such as English or math, or struggled in other ways academically during their freshman year. After ninth grade, the students are guided into the summer program, where they’ll hopefully have a little more one-on-one time and attention to help them catch up.

Student advocates such as Meza, a 2012 Greeley Central graduate and former Student Recovery Program participant, work with the high schoolers when they return to their home high school for the next academic year.

“I think it helps,” said Meza, who went on to graduate from Aims Community College and the University of Northern Colorado. “I was part of the program, and they can relate to me.”

In 2009, a year after the Student Recovery Program started, Latino male high school students in District 6 had a graduation rate of only 47% — compared with 65.3% for all other students, male and female, according to program data. The graduation rate is the percentage of students who earn their high school diploma in four years or less.

The Latino male student completion rate, which includes graduates who earn a diploma and those who finish with a high school equivalency diploma, at this time was 53.7%.

About 62% (13,994) of the nearly 22,700 students in District 6 identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to the school system.

“The kids we target and work with, they’re the ones falling through the cracks,” program director Corrina Antuna said. “They are smart and haven’t been told they are smart. A lot of times, they’re quiet kids, and they’re unseen, and they miss basic skills, and they miss them from elementary school all the way on.”

‘It started as a movement’

Statewide, the high school graduation rate for Latino males was 46.7% in 2009. While the numbers were slightly better in District 6, the statistics were a concern for Tointon.

Tointon and his late wife, Betty, were long-time Greeley residents. Betty Tointon’s father was a superintendent of schools in Kansas, Bob saw the power of education throughout his life, and the couple had a deep interest in education and educational opportunities for students and teachers in District 6 and at the University of Northern Colorado.

At UNC, they created the Tointon Institute for Educational Change. The program was designed to provide K-12 educators with the opportunity to become better leaders.

“He always said education is what opens every door, and everyone needs an opportunity to open that door,” said Suzette Luster, a 25-year educator and administrator in District 6 and the first director of the Student Recovery Program. “He’s invested in this district, in people and this community. Every action he takes is to give people an opportunity.”

Tointon approached then-Greeley Central High School principal Mary Lauer about starting a summer program for Latino males who were falling behind their peers academically.

Tointon was aware of a similar program in the Denver area called Save Our Youth at Lighthouse Baptist Church, and it caught Tointon’s attention, according to former Central administrator Mark Cousins.

The Save Our Youth program, though, didn’t extend into the school year to continue to track and work with the at-risk students. Luster said in her research on the program, she found the lack of resources and connection to the schools prevented the summer work from effectively carrying over to the school year.

With the program, Tointon sought to ensure that students’ academic gains in the summer sustained into the school year, Cousins said.

Cousins was an assistant principal at Greeley Central when Tointon presented the idea of the Student Recovery Program. Lauer pulled him in to run the program with Luster and for the duo to figure out an operational philosophy.

Cousins and Luster developed a different approach to setting up the school-year program at Central. When school started in 2008, they cohorted the students from the summer program and “made sure a teacher knew how to support them.”

Piloted at Greeley Central, the Student Recovery Program expanded to Northridge in 2012 and to Greeley West last year. There will be 160 students in the program at the three high schools with the start of the upcoming school year.

Tointon and others initially funded the entire venture including personnel. As the program grew, so did the need for new funding sources, Cousins said. A nonprofit arm of the program was started to allow for applications for external money such as grants.

The Student Recovery Program became part of Greeley-Evans School District 6 a few years ago. Cousins, the president of the board of directors of the nonprofit, said District 6 Superintendent Deirdre Pilch advocated for expansion to Northridge and Greeley West, and for the district to take on the staffing of the program.

In addition to Antuna, a 30-year-old graduate of University Schools, CU Boulder and the University of Northern Colorado, there are six advocates working at the three high schools and all are District 6 employees: Meza and Ashely Amaro Martinez at Greeley Central; Sandra Barrera and Sammy Moore at Northridge (as of this year); and Madelynne Marsden and Alexa Gregory at Greeley West.

The nonprofit continues to exist to pay students $75 for every class they complete during the summer, while applying the credits to graduation requirements. Tointon, who has donated close to $3 million to the program throughout the years, according to Antuna, continues to fund the students’ summer incentive pay. This year, he donated $30,000.

District 6 funds other components of the program through the mill levy override passed in 2017, Antuna said.

Cousins is retired from the district and works as the regional director for Northern Colorado Zero Dropouts LLC. He is the president of the board of directors of the Student Recovery Program nonprofit. Luster, the principal at Franklin Middle School in Greeley, is the vice president of the board of directors.

“It started as a movement,” Cousins said, referring to the financial donations from Tointon and others in the program’s early days. “It was a real struggle because (we were) serving a select group of individuals, and when you’re targeting one subset, it’s hard to gain grants because they’re looking for a broader spectrum. Bob kept funding us.”

‘I stopped doing classes’

This summer at UNC, a location secured by Tointon, Antuna said, the 98 high school students worked in six classrooms in McKee and Candelaria halls. They attended the program from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Thursday with 40 minutes for lunch in a university dining hall.

During the school year, Meza said the majority of his day is spent tutoring students. He keeps track of students’ progress and attendance, and calls parents to inquire about a student if necessary.

“It’s talking with them and building the relationships with them,” Meza said. “I talk with them every day and help them out, and I was a constant person for them.”

Sixteen-year-old Daniel Espina, a rising junior at Northridge, is among multiple siblings to go through the program. Espina, who joined after his freshman year, said he struggled with geometry and with online learning through COVID-19.

“I stopped doing classes because I didn’t understand,” Espina said, adding the recovery program has allowed him a different perspective on learning. He said he feels better able to relate to teachers and other students.

Rodriguez, the Central junior, moved to Greeley from Weslaco, Texas — near the Mexican border — in 2019 before starting eighth grade. He went to Bella Romero and had to adjust to a new world.

“The snow is weird,” he said.

A year later, though, norms drastically changed worldwide with the onset of COVID-19. Rodriguez was among the students who started high school under the cloud of a pandemic.

By the time Rodriguez arrived at Central for in-person classes after winter break, he was more than halfway through ninth grade and had trouble finding a classroom at least once.

“That didn’t help,” he said of COVID. “Going into high school … it was really weird.”

Math has been a trouble area for Rodriguez. This summer, he recovered credits in geometry after struggling with the subject last year. He finished his summer work early and won’t have to retake geometry this year.

“The material would get confusing, and it would get boring, so I’d doze off,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said having one-on-one time with Meza or other advocates, during the school year or in the summer, was beneficial in keeping him “on track” with his academics.

“They helped me understand better,” he said.

Rodriguez said he has interests in photography and mechanics, and he’s beginning to understand the importance of school.

“I’m slowly starting to see on my own, education gets you a better job,” Rodriguez said. “A better job gives you more money.”

‘I could talk to him about anything’

In 2021, the district’s graduation rate among Latino males was 76.4%, up from 47.2% in 2009. The statewide graduation rate among Latino males was 69.1% in 2021, up from 46.7%.

The graduation rate among students in the Student Recovery Program since its inception is 76.3% and a completion rate of 88% as of this year.

Recent Greeley Central graduate Angel Castillo knew he’d need academic assistance not long after starting high school. Castillo, 17, who graduated in the spring, said he’d lose concentration with his classwork. He said he’s always been hyper and suspected he might have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

“I had a lot of friends in classes, and I could see it (the loss of focus) happening,” Castillo said. “I messed around a lot.”

He learned of the recovery program during a talk with Meza, and quickly figured out it was right for him. Castillo said Meza offered him the chance for academic help or any other assistance Castillo might want — even a space to talk to someone about issues unrelated to academics.

Castillo said Meza was a source of support for him during his sophomore year when his mother and stepfather were divorced.

“It was a weird time,” Castillo recalled. “Armando was there, and I could talk to him about anything.”

Castillo doubted he would have graduated on time if it weren’t for the program. The help was particularly beneficial in learning to organize projects.

“Armando helped me clearly understand and process my thoughts,” Castillo said. “It helped me stay focused. We’d get it all sorted out.”