{"id":1147,"date":"2015-07-30T23:00:04","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T23:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ca.greendot.org\/collegeprep\/2015\/07\/30\/green-dot-student-and-teacher-celebrated-at-white-house\/"},"modified":"2015-07-30T23:00:04","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T23:00:04","slug":"green-dot-student-and-teacher-celebrated-at-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ca.greendot.org\/collegeprep\/2015\/07\/30\/green-dot-student-and-teacher-celebrated-at-white-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Dot Student and Teacher Celebrated at White House"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Two members of Green Dot\u2019s community were among those\u00a0honored last week in separate ceremonies at the White House.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fairley Alum Attends Michelle Obama Education Summit\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1365 \" src=\"http:\/\/blog.greendot.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2015\/07\/20150730.Bettie.1.jpg\" alt=\"Beating the Odds student, Bettie Elston\" width=\"360\" height=\"360\" \/>Bettie Elston, a 2015 graduate from Green Dot\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greendot.org\/page.cfm?p=4320\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fairley High School<\/a> in Memphis, was invited to the \u201cBeating the Odds\u201d summit as part of Michelle Obama\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/reach-higher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reach Higher<\/a> initiative. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/photos-and-video\/video\/2015\/07\/23\/first-lady-hosts-beating-odds-summit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beating the Odds<\/a> aims to inspire students to continue their education after high school. Over 130 students from across the US were invited to hear panelists speak about the importance of education.<\/p>\n<p>At the event, Elston met the First Lady and the President, as well as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. \u201cI was really impressed by Mr. Duncan,\u201d she said. \u201cHe told us, \u2018Chase whatever dream you might have, but education will open doors for you wherever you go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For this young student, higher education has always been part of her long-term plan. Enrolling at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in the fall, Elston intends to study biology or political science and return to her community to mentor other students.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMrs. Obama reminded us that <strong>we don\u2019t have to come from anything to become something<\/strong>,\u201d she said. \u201cShe made it clear that education can lead to greater opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>Beating the Odds<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>But exactly what are the odds that students like Bettie Elston expected to beat?<\/p>\n<p>After thirty years of stagnant graduation rates, the numbers of students successfully completing high school has risen over the past decade. But black and Latino students continue to graduate at a much lower rate than their white and Asian peers. While 85% of white 9<span style=\"font-size: 13.3333330154419px;line-height: 20px\">th<\/span>\u00a0graders go on to complete high school, only 76% of Latino students and 68% of African American students achieve the <a href=\"http:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/programs\/coe\/indicator_coi.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">same distinction<\/a>. But family income remains the largest predictor of high school completion and college enrollment: 81% of students from \u2018wealthy\u2019 families enroll in college, a figure that drops to 51% for those from low-income families.<\/p>\n<p>We are inspired by those students that graduate high school and enroll in college, and we celebrate with them their ability to \u2018beat the odds\u2019. But we would suggest that the very idea that students of color and the socioeconomically disadvantaged must \u2018beat the odds\u2019 at all is to acknowledge the inequities ingrained in our public education system. Green Dot\u2019s goal is more than supporting and encouraging individual students to \u2018beat the odds\u2019, but to change the odds for all students.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Champion of Change<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1366 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.greendot.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2015\/07\/20150730.JamieB.1.2.jpg\" alt=\"DACAmented Teacher, Jaime Ballesteros\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" \/>For <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/champions\/dacamented-teachers\/jaime-ballesteros\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaime Ballesteros<\/a>, a once-undocumented immigrant and now a teacher\u00a0at Green Dot\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greendot.org\/collegeprep\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u00c1nimo College Preparatory Academy<\/a> (ACPA) in\u00a0South Los Angeles, Mrs. Obama\u2019s words are self-evident. Last week, Ballesteros was one of just nine teachers from across the country honored by the White House at a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/champions\/dacamented-teachers\/jaime-ballesteros\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Champions of Change<\/a>\u201d event celebrating the achievements of undocumented individuals who became classroom leaders to inspire students and communities.<\/p>\n<p>Born in the Philippines, Ballesteros came to America as a young boy under his father\u2019s work visa. When his father was laid off, he became undocumented. Ballesteros finished high school with the support of other students and mentorship from teachers; helping him pursue his goal of a college education.<\/p>\n<p>Ballesteros received his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/blog\/2012\/08\/15\/deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-who-can-be-considered\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DACA<\/a>) status in spring of his junior year in college. After earning his B.A. from Drew University, he joined <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teachforamerica.org\/top-stories\/award-nominated-teacher-who-almost-wasn%E2%80%99t-allowed-teach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Teach for America<\/a> and was hired by Green Dot in 2014. While teaching Chemistry at ACPA, he is pursuing a Master\u2019s degree in Urban Education at Loyola Marymount University.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s my hope that all teachers become aware of the unique circumstances that undocumented students face and be able to offer the resources for these students when preparing for college,\u201d he says. \u201cGrowing up, it would have made a big difference to know that an undocumented teacher shared the same background as me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Green Dot is proud to celebrate the accomplishments of Bettie Elston and Jaime Ballesteros, representing the extraordinary achievements that can be realized when personal determination meets a caring and supportive public school that nurtures individual talents and aspirations.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.greendot.org\/page.cfm?p=4367\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1299 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.greendot.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2015\/07\/Give-Today-e1435855185226.png\" alt=\"Give Today\" width=\"580\" height=\"86\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.greendot.org\/green-dot-student-and-teacher-celebrated-white-house\/\">Green Dot Student and Teacher Celebrated at White House<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.greendot.org\">Green Dot Public Schools Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Source: ACPA Blog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Two members of Green Dot\u2019s community were among those\u00a0honored last week in separate ceremonies at the White House. Fairley Alum Attends Michelle Obama Education Summit\u00a0 Bettie Elston, a 2015 graduate from Green Dot\u2019s Fairley High School in Memphis, was invited to the \u201cBeating the Odds\u201d summit as part of Michelle Obama\u2019s Reach Higher initiative.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1148,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,10,56,47,15,49,57,18,55,58,59,37,60],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Green Dot Student and Teacher Celebrated at White House - \u00c1nimo College Prep Academy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ca.greendot.org\/collegeprep\/2015\/07\/30\/green-dot-student-and-teacher-celebrated-at-white-house\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Green Dot Student and Teacher Celebrated at White House - \u00c1nimo College Prep Academy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Two members of Green Dot\u2019s community were among those\u00a0honored last week in separate ceremonies at the White House. 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