Overseeing success

There is one square mile of Huntington Beach that is quite different from the other 31.

Spanish can be heard rolling off the tongues of residents as the smell of home-cooked meals tickles the taste buds. The community is called Oak View, and it’s a far cry from the rest of the surf-oriented beach town. Most of Oak View’s residents immigrated to the United States from Puebla, Mexico, and the culture of their home country is evident on every street.

Now, a special program called El Viento is helping the community’s children get a jump on life in America. The program makes a promise to kids: Participate in El Viento activities from fourth to 12th grades, and you’ll get a $2,000 scholarship to help pay for college.

The program’s name means “wind” in Spanish. “Like a boat needs the wind to move forward, the opportunities that El Viento provides helps the kids move forward in the future,” said Executive Director Zayda Garcia.

The program was the brainchild of Newport Beach resident John Shaw, former vice-chairman of consulting firm Deloitte & Touche. After watching a video about Eugene Lang and his “I Have A Dream” Foundation ? which provides scholarship money for students in Harlem, New York ? Shaw said a light went off in his head.

He and his wife, Ellen Shockro, who had worked in the education field for years, had been looking for a way to give back to a community in need. Bill Vega, then-president of the Coastline Community College District, told them about Oak View.

Shaw founded the El Viento program in 1997 to give new opportunities to students in Oak View.

“Huntington Beach doesn’t know about ? the little cultural gem here,” Shaw said of the neighborhood. “To me it’s an oasis.”

The program is focused not only on keeping kids in school, but on helping them excel.

The majority of students attending schools in the Oak View community perform below their grade level, according to El Viento administrators.

But the El Viento program’s first group of students ? called Flight 1 ? will soon graduate from high school with an average GPA of 3.0 or above. With all 10 of the senior students heading to college next fall, the program is surpassing the goals it set for itself.

“They [the students] all are the first ones in their families to go to college,” said Garcia.

The program has three components: a twice-weekly after-school tutoring and homework session, a monthly field trip to enrich students’ studies and a six-week summer program.

Each year, El Viento takes on 25 new fourth-grade students who will proceed on an eight-year journey through elementary, middle and high school.

To join, the students and their parents must fill out applications and make a serious commitment to participate for eight years. The board of directors and administrators of El Viento also look at teacher recommendations and test scores.

The ideal student for the El Viento program is one who is hungry to learn, Garcia said.

The program’s costs are covered by private and public donors, grants and endowments. El Viento once promised a full ride to a community college for two years, but many of the students wanted to attend four-year colleges. As a result, coordinators modified the plan to provide $2,000 scholarships that can be used at any school.

Jadira Zuniga, 18, a Flight 1 student and senior at Ocean View High School, recently earned a separate scholarship worth $36,000 to the four-year nursing program at Mount St. Mary’s College.

Zuniga, who always dreamed of becoming a nurse, attributes many of her academic and personal successes to her involvement in El Viento.

“It made me focus more,” she said. “Now I’m more well-rounded.”

Teachers who work with the El Viento students said they see marked differences between students in the program and those who are not.

“The hugest difference is their self-confidence,” said Christine Zimbaldi, a teacher at Oak View who also works with El Viento.

All of the members of Oak View’s student council participate in El Viento, including fifth-grader Brian Torres, who has big dreams.

“I want to be a lawyer,” Torres, 10, said.

Many of the kids at Oak View don’t know how to dream big, said Amy Moonly, El Viento’s fourth-grade teacher.

“In this community you have lots of limitations,” Shaw said. “We want [the students] to dream like they’ve never dreamt before.”

A report about high school dropouts released this week by public policy firm Civic Enterprises showed that almost a third of all high school students and nearly half of Latino students do not graduate from high school with their class.

El Viento is trying to counter that bad news with some more positive figures. The Civic Enterprises study reported that 45% of dropouts said they felt poorly prepared for high school. To fight this problem, El Viento teachers meet with each other periodically to make sure they are keeping up with the curriculum the students will face in the future.

Shaw, Garcia and Erika Sanchez, the director of development for El Viento, agree the community must be involved in creating a safe haven for youth.

Shaw has been working on another charity organization called the Oak View Renewal Pact, which will focus on the community as a whole. He plans to bring programs in education, healthcare and public safety, as well as more job opportunities, to the community and he hopes to see tangible results by 2010.

“The community has to improve in order for the kids to succeed,” Shaw said.

Many of the students involved have never stepped into the ocean before, even though they live in a city famous for its beaches and surf competitions. During the summer, the students are taught to swim, sail, surf and kayak. El Viento tries to broaden the students’ horizons beyond the square enveloped by Beach Boulevard, Gothard Street, Warner and Slater avenues.

“It’s another way of seeing life,” Zuniga said.

Private donors contribute 80% of the funds for El Viento, and all of that money goes to the kids and their activities.

On Oct. 16, El Viento will host what Shaw said will be the program’s first annual golf tournament fundraiser at SeaCliff Country Club.

Many of the donors like to be hands-on with the students and come to pay visits from time to time ? which the kids love, Sanchez said.

El Viento is committed to the students it supports and plans to track the students as they attend college and continue their lives.

The El Viento teachers and coordinators said they are in for the long haul. As the students continue to succeed, Shaw hopes that he can create more programs that reach out to other communities in Orange County.

“We want to change the world one community at a time,” he said.

For more information about the El Viento program, call (714) 913-1265 or visit www.elviento.org.LINDA NGUYEN / INDEPENDENT(LA)Teacher Christine Zimbaldi helps student Jonathan Castillo with his reading homework as part of the El Viento program, which helps students in the Oak View neighborhood gain a firm footing on the path to enrollment in college.hbi.09-elviento-1-CPhotoInfoGN1ONT7520060309ivshfhknLINDA NGUYEN / INDEPENDENT(LA)Teacher Christine Zimbaldi helps student Jonathan Castillo with his reading homework as part of the El Viento program, which helps students in the Oak View neighborhood gain a firm footing on the path to enrollment in college.hbi.09-elviento-2-CPhotoInfoGN1ONT7720060309ivshgjknLINDA NGUYEN / INDEPENDENT(LA) Christine Zimbaldi assists Dania Barrera, 10, with her homework.