Puente Program Builds Community for New Students
The Puente Program helped welcome about 50 new students to Fullerton College while building a sense of community during a drive-thru event on Saturday, Aug. 22. The Puente Program, which aims to increase college persistence rates among under-served students through a variety of support services, provided textbooks, T-shirts and additional school supplies to new students in the cohort.
“We wanted students to still feel the sense of community that Puente creates, even though we are all distant from each other,” said Puente Program Counselor Elisa Latourelle. Students in the program were encouraged to wear their T-shirts on the first day of virtual classes.
“Adding to ‘#HornetsTogetherApart,’ we also wanted them to feel a sense of belonging to our campus; a sense of belonging and community is essential to student achievement,” Latourelle said.
First-year students in the program must be enrolled in English 100 – College Writing and Counseling 151 – Career & College Success during the fall semester, as well as participate in Puente’s planned events. Latourelle said this year the program was able to allocate funding to provide students with their English 100 textbook titled, A Dream Called Home by Reyna Grande.
Puente plans to host a virtual event for students and their families during the first few weeks of the semester. Noche de Familia will invite students and their families to join in on a conversation about higher education. For more information about the Puente Program, visit counseling.fullcoll.edu/puente
