On Thursday, November 30th, an assembly was hosted for students of all grade levels covering substance abuse. However, during the second period assembly meant for seniors, there was an additional topic being discussed.
The first half of the assembly covered heavy topics such as the usage of nicotine, fentanyl, and marijuana. It was a district-required assembly organized and presented by Mr. Chavez.
Many students reported being unable to hear the information, and others felt frustrated that it was even an assembly to begin with.
Senior Jennifer Martinez said, “I think it could’ve been done more thoroughly. It could have been done in a more serious way.”
When asked how impactful he felt the assembly was, Mr. Chavez said, “Those come from the district. I would just say they are informative, I don’t know how impactful they are, but they at least put the information out to you all so you can hear it.”
For many students, this is where the assembly ended. For seniors, however, the second half of the assembly featured many guest speakers from LAVC, including the president of the college and financial and student advisors. The topic they were covering was financial aid.
It is a very confusing time for seniors applying to college, with the deadline for applying to UCs and Cal States having closed on November 30th. This assembly came right before the application for FAFSA opened.
Guest speaker, Gonzalo Rey, a Students Support Services Representative at LAVC, spoke about the importance of offering this information and making it readily available.
Rey said, “I think it is very useful for students who don’t know what they want to do, but also those who do. It provides more opportunities, better financial opportunities, networking opportunities, and personal growth opportunities.”
Mr. Chavez spoke about wanting to collaborate and share this information, saying, “LAVC is really interested in presenting information to people because it’s kind of a resource to the community. So we were working with them for a couple of weeks for them to come out and meet students. They wanted a big group of students. It grew as the audience grew.”
With having the opportunity to reach so many students at once, it was important to Rey that only accurate information was being shared. He stated, “I think the biggest struggle is just misinformation. There’s a lot of different things that I hear that are not necessarily true.”
He continued saying, “A lot of people think they can’t afford college. We have the Promise Program, we have FAFSA, the Dream Act, we have opportunities and routes to assist you with that.”
Applying for financial aid is notoriously difficult and frustrating for seniors. The guest speakers from LAVC described the many kinds of financial aid and went into detail about the steps and process of filling out the FAFSA application.
That was in addition to covering eligibility, amounts granted, and summarizing the changes made to this year’s application.
Martinez said, “Them being there was really useful. They gave information, where usually you wouldn’t get that.”
So while the Substance Abuse portion of the assembly may have not been received well by students, the financial aid assembly left seniors completing these applications with helpful information.
