BALDWIN PARK – Baldwin Park Unified was awarded a $25,000 grant through Kaiser Permanente’s Attendance Motivation and College Exploration project, which will support the District’s efforts to encourage regular attendance and promote college visits among high school students.

The Attendance Motivation and College Exploration project will focus on high school sophomores who had poor or irregular attendance during their freshman year at Baldwin Park High School, North Park Continuation High School and Sierra Vista High School.

Funds will also be used to provide incentive field trips at UC and Cal State colleges at the end of the school year so students can discover the different communities and find what each institution has to offer.

Among the colleges listed as proposed destinations are: California State University Channel Island, University California Santa Barbara, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, California State University Monterey Bay and University California Santa Cruz.

The trips will also include historical and cultural excursions, including visits to Big Sur and the Redwood Forest, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Point Lobos and more.

“Baldwin Park Unified is extremely grateful for this grant and the support from Kaiser Permanente to help motivate students to attend school so they are on the path to higher education,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Froilan N. Mendoza said. “We are proud to have Kaiser as a partner in our students’ education.”

Through the grant, 75 sophomores will receive dedicated support to improve attendance. Of those students, between 20 to 25 sophomores who demonstrate the most improved attendance will participate in the college exploration trip.

The District’s Student Achievement Department will meet with the selected students and counsel them on ways to improve attendance; administrators will follow up with the sophomores on a quarterly basis to review attendance patterns.

Students will be asked to create a vision board on the importance of good attendance and how consistent school attendance prepares students for college, trade school and the workforce.