Current ACE Participants
Jessica Villa Encourages Mission Graduates
Jessica Villa, senior and sociology major, recalls her mother’s voice saying, “Hechale ganas” (put in effort), as she completed her homework after school on the kitchen table. Her parents constantly reinforced the idea that education was the key to success, and this lesson has been at the heart of her work as a second-year Advocate for Community Engagement (ACE) who coordinates service-learning projects with Mission Graduates. Each semester, she collaborates with nearly 30 USF service-learning students from across academic disciplines such as business, sociology, theology, and communication studies – to serve K-12 youth from San Francisco's Mission District neighborhood in educational enrichment and college readiness programming.
Jessica's experience with Mission Graduates has only enhanced her college goal of serving youth. She is working toward the dual degree and teacher preparation program and is scheduled to earn her B.A., M.A., and California teaching credential by May 2017. She continues to be actively engaged in Mission Graduates' Extended Day Program at Marshall, Leonard Flynn, and Bryant Elementary Schools over the last two years, by providing youth with arts, recreation, and academic enrichment activities.
Mission Graduates, a community partner over several years, prides itself in empowering and advocating for all students, as guided by their motto, "Make College an Expectation, not an Exception, for Mission Youth". We celebrate our community-engaged learning partnership with Mission Graduates and their legacy in serving San Francisco's brilliant students for over 40 years!
Current ACE Participants
- Evelyn Zamora
- Margaret "Greta" Karisny
- Bayli Tucker
- Maya Barba
- Katie Thaxton-Elkins
- Nichole Vasquez
- Kimberly Kollwitz
- Martin Juarez
- Jessica Villa
- Dylan Moore
- Mary Cruz