Monday, December 8, 2014

ACE Plus Program by Diana Alvarez Chavez

           The  day of the ACE Plus Program orientation, I was sitting in the dentist waiting room, waiting for the dental assistant to call me in while my friends and peers, all sophomores at the time, were in the north gym. They were getting introduced and invited to the college preparatory program called “ACE Plus Program.” However, because of the fact that I wasn’t there, I didn’t get informed about this program till until about a week later. My counselor told me all the requirements for the application and all the positive aspects about the program. However, she didn’t inform me of all the details. She didn’t tell me that every Saturday I was going to have to get up to go to class for about two and a half hours long , that they’re was going to be times where we had to pay for our books and the lack of variety of courses.
                        My counselor, like any other would have done, began by telling me to apply for the  ACE Plus Program for the reason that it would introduce and put me into the college mindset earlier than kids in my grade. That way when it’s time for me to graduate and move on to any university it would be completely new and I would be more comfortable. She also elaborated about how it would be a whole year of college done before I graduate high school and most importantly, I would do this for free.  This of course sounded like an amazing opportunity that I wouldn’t want to miss so I applied and got accepted.
Now that I am part of this program I still agree that it is an amazing opportunity that shouldn’t be missed because of those reasons; however they are a few minor details that should be worked upon. For example, all of the students accepted into this program are all in high school and most of the students do not have a job, so no money for books. However, out of the courses the ACE Plus Program offers, they don’t have the full class set  of books needed for them. They have days that they set up before a semester to start  to hand out books, which don’t get me wrong I think it is a splendid idea, but it is on the basis of “first come, first serve.” This means that those students that weren’t able to make it or get one would have to rent one from the book store.  It isn’t cheap to rent a book. This is how I think the program has its imperfections because it only offers certain classes and it would only make sense and be fair if it had to offer all those books.
Another deficiency about the program is the few classes it has to offer are dreary and the variety of the classes are also minor. They do, however, offer  tons of  English courses, which is good for the average student, but  for students who take English AP classes, these courses are tedious to take. Because of this, I believe this program could be perfected by adding a few different courses like science or math because those aren’t offered through ACE Plus Program.

Although throughout this whole review I have been mainly criticizing and proposing for better service, I am really grateful for being accepted into this program because it allows me to be exposed to more of the lengthy essays that teachers say were required all throughout their college experience. It also exposes the students to future college/university students and the resources offered at colleges and universities like the writing center and the financial office. This program also prepares us to know that we are responsible for our own success.

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