Tools to build bright futures
School is out for the summer and the UC Davis Early Academic Outreach Program, known as EAOP, is hard at work helping organize and host special academic events for area elementary through high school students.
Since 1976, EAOP has helped hundreds of thousands of underserved students and families around California prepare for college. Each University of California campus leads EAOP services in their regions. The system’s largest academic preparation program ensures students throughout the state can access tools and information throughout every step of their college journey, from elementary school all the way through their senior year of high school.
UC Davis EAOP
Early outreach at UC Davis
UC Davis offers two other early outreach programs that operate out of Undergraduate Admissions.
Mathematics, Engineering Science Achievement, or MESA, creates STEM opportunities to cultivate learning pathways for local youth in the greater Sacramento area.
Sacramento Area Youth Speaks, known as SAYS, transforms education by providing students with platforms for civic engagement and social justice advocacy.
All three programs (EAOP included) show students that college is accessible regardless of their background.
UC Davis EAOP staff work year round with students as young as 10 and as old as 18, from low-income and first-generation backgrounds, who attend Sacramento, Yolo and Solano County partner schools. Through meaningful, engaging and age-appropriate programming, the team encourages students and families to think about pursuing higher education.
The team, which includes UC Davis student staff, creates academic enrichment activities, meets with program participants one on one twice a year for academic advising and facilitates unique college knowledge workshops for parents and families to attend alongside their students.
“We are not empowering students. They have always had power but might need some support to figure it out and they do fast,” said Harold Stewart-Carballo, UC Davis EAOP regional assistant director. “A student didn’t become a veterinarian because I had anything to do with it. I just helped them on a small part of their journey to get there.”
Memorable summer opportunities
Over the summer months UC Davis EAOP staff, partner with various local and UC campus-wide departments to put on unique, captivating and stimulating day camps, conferences, field trips and more to engage California youth with UC Davis.
June 13 marked the first day of the Freshman Leadership Academy, which invites 42 eighth-grade students to participate in a month-long, strength-based leadership training at Pioneer High School in Woodland. Students visit college campuses weekly, take a trip to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and earn five elective credits for their high school transcripts.
Earlier this month, six high school students began their summer journey with Project SEED. In partnership with the UC Davis Chemistry Department, students work with a graduate student to complete a research project of their choice. They continue their projects for six weeks and receive a $4,000 stipend to fund their research.
“One parent picks up and drops off their student every day on their way to and from work,” said Liliana Lara Hazel, assistant director of UC Davis EAOP K-12 programming. “Their student applied to this program because of past experiences with EAOP and it is important to the parent that they make it there every day.”
One student will shadow lawyers and key UC Davis officials this summer, while others, in a partnership with the Yolo County District Attorney’s office, will meet a judge, view an exclusive victim panel and work with law clerks in a real legal office.
Later this month, Hazel will accompany three students to UC Santa Barbara for the Summer Research Academy, a dynamic and immersive college prep program. And earlier this month, some attended the Black Youth Symposium which addressed the critical issues of mental health awareness and higher education empowerment among underrepresented youth.
Younger EAOP students will head to the Aquarium of the Bay and work with a 3-D printer in partnership with the aquarium’s Studio Aqua Department. Sixth- through eighth-grade students get to experience the magic of Sacramento’s Fairytale Town in person at the Strengths Quest Explorer day camp where they will take the Clifton Strengths Explorer Assessment and explore potential careers related to their results.
In addition to these events, many more programming activities await EAOP participants and non-participants this summer, to spark their interest and passion for higher education.
“College is a game changer. It serves as a tool, as cliché as it sounds. It opens doors to career opportunities, broadens one’s mind and provides economic advantages,” said Johanna Alatorre Gonzalez, UC Davis EAOP regional assistant director. “At EAOP, it is crucial for us to help open these doors for students who lack access to these transformative summer experiences.”