My group was given the task to interview the group of current Freshmen students that participated in the Summer Bridge program. Following, I want to present how the tracking system affected our interviewees, what they mentioned helped them get out of the tracking system and how it affects what they expect college would be like. In "Profile of a First Generation College student", Octavio Villalpando and Dolores Delgado Bernal. describe the characteristics of First Generation College students as being working class, older average age, working (pt or ft), mostly females, having diverse cultural backgrounds, being less driven by individualism, hedonism (just for the pleasure), and materialism, and more concerned with social issues, and with obtaining careers to help their communities. It claims that first generation students from ethnic minority groups (diverse backgrounds) and working class families, are often less academically prepared to attend a 4-year institute than non-first generation college students. The student Wilfredo states:

I thought it was going to be hard (college) cause I really wasn't into, I guess ready for it, like I took regular classes in high school, no AP classes or anything like that, so I knew it was going to be hard; and I guess it has been I'm not used to doing homework every night and studying and stuff.

    When asked about what they expected college to be like almost all of the interviewees imagined that it was going to be much harder than high school and feared they wouldn't be prepared. It seems that each of these students pictured college as being "real" hard. Cynthia Fernandez, a student from CSUMB states in her Capstone project that, " Many first generation college students are less prepared for college both-academically and psychologically- than students who come from college educated families. Although these skills and motivation deficits can be overcome, they make the transition to college more difficult. (Fernandez 3).

    These students are casualties of the official or unofficial tracking system in high school. Our interviewees were aware that being tracked for college meant receiving the attention and support necessary to be successful in high school. Wilfredo explained:

Well when I went to Alisal High School I guess it's in the East side and then everybody looks down upon them, well us, and like they don't force it as much, well when I was there they didn'tthere is always a set of group, people that are always known that they are going to go, which are the people that are in the AP classes and stuff. They are the ones that get everything, they get all the freedom in high school, and everyone else is just lower than them.

    Our interviewees were asked if they received high school support from mentors, role models, or the school itself, and if the school overall prepared them to pursue a post-secondary education. They mainly stated that encouragement to attend college came mostly from one individual either an Educational Talent Search advisor, school counselor, Upward Bound, Migrant Education counselor, AVID program, and teachers. One student explains:

I had one role model that I still admire up to this date, he was a Migrant Counselor, Mr. Cardenas. He encouraged me a lot he is helping a lot of migrant students' get to college and that is what I would like to do. He told me that after I finish college it would be nice to take his place.

Irazu, another student remembered:

Yeah, I had my Language Arts teacher Ms. Chamberland, she encouraged me to continue to going to a university, she even told me though its far it is going to be ok, and its going to make me concentrate even more, which its true it totally made me concentrate.

    There were who received no support from anyone in their school, rather from an outside program. One interviewee states:

Not at the high school, but I was a part of the Upward Bound program and for Cal Berkeley and that program has a lot of positive role models and saw how what little it takes to be in college from that.

Ismael explains, "If it wouldn't of been for ETS, I would have ran right through" Meaning he would have overlooked the possibility of attending college."

    Jay M. Rochlin, author of race and class on campus, did interviews with First Generation African American and Mexican American students' back in the 1970's. In his book he states how necessary and important it is for first generation students to receive guidance, mentorship and support from individuals, to give them a clear message that they are college material. He states, "Many of my Mexican American informants also knew early that college would be part of their plans, but the message wasn't as clear" (p.13). We encountered many similar instances of students who learned from counselors that their peer group was not considered likely to succeed. When asked whether counselors saw her as college bound, Irazu explained:

They did and they didn't some of them were um they really didn't think I was going to get accepted to a Cal State, so they figured that I should apply to a Community college, but I proved them wrong. (Irazu Ortiz Ma Suy).

It was interesting to find that one student shared similar experiences as those students Rochlin interviewed back in 1972 and 1975. A quote from the book says:

At Sunnyside high, my peer group was not considered likely to succeed...I thought I would go to my counselor to have a conversation about me not knowing what to do down the road...He nods his head and asks me if I had ever considered carpentry, that I really wasn't college material and that college really wasn't for me...". (Rochlin,24 ).

    In her article "From the Barrio to the Academy: Revelation of a Mexican American "Scholarship Girl", Laura I. Rendon, explains that "In general, Hispanics, Native Americans, and African Americans tend to enroll in community colleges as opposed to four-year institutions" (p. 57). Says she and her family felt and saw that higher education belonged to the elite and wealthy and say "We Hispanos were not in that group." She also states that 1st generation students fear going away from their community or hometown because they will encounter ethnic and racial shock. So they stay in their safety zone. In "Transformations: Cultural Challenges faced by First Generation Students", Howard B. London states that "A disproportionately large number of these "new students to higher education" are concentrated in community colleges" (p. 5). We found a tight correlation between these studies and our interviewees. Most of the Latino high school students in our tri-county area are tracked to the local community colleges if at all. As Irazu's, counselor felt she belonged in a community college, Wilfredo and Alma, the students I quoted before, said the idea came from within or from their parents. Wilfredo says:

I was planning to go to Hartnell Community College, I wasn't planning to go to the university, but yes I had the plan of keep on getting educated.

And Yolanda X. (a pseudonym) explains:

My father thought I was going to go to a community college. My mother said that whatever I felt happier she would be happy for me. I had to convince my father that I wanted to go to a university even though it cost more and I was going to take the challenge any way and do it! After they found out I was able to handle it they were very proud of me.

    When it comes to making the decision of continuing their post-secondary education, our findings showed that first generation students are being tracked to attend community college by the school systems, family, and themselves. The tracking system is deeply internalized by many first generation students. It is rewarding to know that even though society has created the idea that first generation college students belong in a community college, our interviewees have beaten the odds and have found their motivations to continue their education into a four-year college.