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By Katlin Sweeney

Editor-in-Chief

With its largest graduating class and the opening of the Jan and Esther Stearns Center, ACE Scholars is celebrating one of its most successful years in program history.

ACE Scholars Services is a program that supports former foster youth while they attend college to get their degree. According to their website, their goals for the program include “meet[ing] the unique needs of students who are former foster youth and to improve their rates of matriculation, graduation and career success.”

ACE has been successful as a program thus far, exceeding the national average of 50 percent with a current campus retention rate of 88 percent.

Director of ACE Scholars Services, Jim Mickelson, said that 2015 in particular is an exciting year for the graduating class.

“Of the general population, 47 percent of people age 26, hold an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree compared to only 8 percent of the same-age of former foster youth,” he said. “With this graduating class of 13 ACE Scholars Services, [we] will have 39 alumni since 2008. We are turning around the lives of foster youth one degree at a time.”

Mickelson said that the support of the CSUSM community is part of what has made the ACE Scholars program successful.

“We are successful because this campus as a whole supports its students, especially those who are at risk of not obtaining a degree,” he said. “There is no one department; it is the spirit of CSUSM that makes the difference not just with ACE Scholars but Vet, Native Americans and others. They are all accepted and valued and that is the major contributor to our success.”

Earlier this year, Jan and Esther Stearns made a generous donation of $1 million to ACE Scholars to create an endowment and the new center. The new center, which is located in Craven Hall 3400, has a large study area with new computers, training room, program offices, community resource office and student lounge.

“We have only been in the new center just over three months so we are just beginning to learn how this environment is impacting ACE Scholars,” Mickelson said. “I have, however, seen the pride our ACE Scholars have for this center.”

ACE Scholars will have their graduation celebration at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 7 in the Tukwut Courtyard. Mickelson said that it is open to all and he encourages all members of the campus community to attend.

“We have many graduation celebrations on this campus where family, friends and loved ones can come and rejoice in the students’ success,” he said. “Many of the ACE Scholars lack such support; however, the CSUSM community comes out to fill that gap.”