Background
Adelante’s Background. At the beginning the Adelante program was called Restart. In May of 1988, Susan realized that the young adults, all on probation, unemployed, and living at a Garland shelter run by her friend, Edi Lewis, eight minutes from campus by bus, should attend Richland College and take remedial courses toward their G.E.D. Edi and Susan took them on a tour of Richland, and the potential students were most impressed with the campus, the computers, the weight room, and swimming pool. Five of them decided to enroll for the summer right then.
Knowing it would cost $100 for each student to enroll in remedial reading and physical education classes, Susan went to the financial aid director to explain the unusual nature of the request for five scholarships, and the director awarded each of the five students a Foundation Scholarship. Susan then successfully assisted them through the admissions and registration process, secured clothing for the students to prepare them for classes, sought donors to contribute to scholarships, and learned how to apply for Pell Grants and Foundation Scholarships.
Susan was then hired by Richland College to administer the Restart Program. She immediately obtained a printout from the Garland Independent School District of all dropouts from the last four academic years and noticed how many Hispanics were on the list. Being bilingual and knowing the student population at Richland consisted only of 6 percent Hispanic students, yet our service area was 20 percent Hispanic, she recommended we focus the Restart Program on Hispanics.
The first year of the program began with a $5,000 donation. Susan’s mother introduced her to a friend who was looking for a local project to fund pertaining to education. Her name was Elaine Mathes, and she became the first Restart donor.
Over the next four years, Susan established a donor base and was able to count on $20,000 a year. She lost only one donor during the 14 years she led the program. That is quite a remarkable record. Susan faithfully mentored and advised the students, always remaining accessible to their phone calls and questions. The success of the program was not only dependent upon the financial help the students were getting, but the fact that Susan spoke Spanish and was always available to the students year after year.
The continuity of her support for these students was invaluable to their success. When students succeeded in college level courses, Susan began to counsel them about careers, insisting that all students complete their studies at Richland with an associate’s degree. Eighty percent of the Restart Program students who graduated with associate degrees went on to four-year institutions. Each semester, the retention rate was approximately 75 percent. Over the 14 years, $240,000 in scholarships was awarded and approximately 2,000 students received some form of aid. Another 1,400 were eligible for Pell grants over that same period.