UC leaders deliver a message of access to California students and schools
October 16, 2017 •
Victor Rios Credit: ket.org
A seven-minute lecture on sociology may not provide deep insight into the subject matter – but UC Santa Barbara professor Victor Rios believes it might light the spark that sets a kid on the path to college.
The noted author, whose TED talk about high school dropouts has garnered more than a million views, is one of the speakers who joined UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang at the campus’s Corwin Pavillion on Oct. 13 to speak to 350 high school juniors and seniors from nine area public schools.
The event was the first of dozens of outreach efforts taking place this fall as part of Achieve UC, launched by President Napolitano and other UC leaders to encourage students in communities with low college-going rates to aim for and attain a high-quality college education.
After passing out a mock course syllabus, Rios will launch into a mini-lecture from his Sociology 101 Class, what he describes as a “technical polemic on issues facing society.”
“Students hear a lot of talk about college and the benefits of going to college, but they don’t have any sense of what university is like,” said Rios. “If I’m successful, some of the students will think, ‘I kind of liked what he was talking about, so I can see myself there,” he said.
Read full article about this fall’s Achieve UC outreach.
Photo on home page of Link: Students at Deer Valley High School in Antioch attended an Achieve UC event on Nov. 1, 2016. Credit: Elena Zhukova
