Ocelotl Peer Pilot for OUSD’s Pre-Apprenticeship Pathway and supporting the Early Educator Apprenticeship Program (EEAP)
We help young people bring their Power into Purpose.
Doing work that you love can be Medicine. To use your own lived experience and bring this into your work and find your Purpose is one of the best gifts one can have in life. When people love what they do and are good at it, those are the PEOPLE WE WANT TO WORK WITH.
It feels great when all of this aligns and we are able to feel that we are Making the Medicine that we need to heal and to get stronger to address what is hard and needs to be faced.
This Fall, Cecilia Terrazas who has been with us since the beginning (see photo above) came to us to support the beautiful work of OUSD’s Talent Division and her role as the Coordinator of Diversity and Inclusion. (Yeah, OUSD still cares about that!) See more HERE.
She has been working hard to get HIgh School Students and recent graduates ready for careers in education. Growing the teachers we need from within our community. Brilliant, right? This was something we had talked about back in 2019 when we both served the community at Madison Park Academy…that teachers could/should be supported by our Social Emotional Learning curriculum and the same training that helps prepare social workers and folks in other helping professions. And so here we are!
To strengthen persistence, belonging, and success, OUSD needed a peer support model that integrates social-emotional learning (SEL), leadership development, and academic guidance, contextualized inside of a work-based learning model. Ocelotl has piloted peer leadership and belonging models across OUSD and the Sobrante Park community, centering young people as experts of their lived experience. These models have since been replicated in schools across Oakland and Alameda County, supporting students to build self-efficacy, resilience, and pathways to college and career. And now we are able to work with the Talented team in the Talent Division to help young people become teachers by helping to learn to support each other.
Here’s what this looks like:
Ocelotl’s Pre-Apprenticeship Peer Support Model
Ocelotl is designing and implementing a Peer Academic & Social Support Program tailored to high school pre-apprentices. Building on its expertise in SEL and youth leadership, Ocelotl will provide a framework that empowers students to support one another while navigating dual enrollment and early work experiences.
Julia Carreño, Ocelotl Program Alum (2022 and 2023), current Board Advisor and Junior at SJSU has now stepped into a new role as the Program Lead for the Pre-Apprenticeship Peer Support Model. Julia has hired a team of MPA Seniors to work with her as Peer Leaders to provide push-in support for their peers who are in the Pre-Apprenticeship program and attending the dual enrollment college classes. Our newest Ocelotl team members are MPA Seniors Yessina Ramirez Robles, Aaron Tellez (older sister was a Mentor in 2017), Juliana Lomeli Quintero (a mentee from our Mentoring program in 2018) who are all in their second year of the Pre-Apprenticeship program.
Julia has planned and led their training and is coordinating with the college professors and MPA staff to ensure that these Peer Leaders will have what they need to in turn support their peers in having a successful experience in the program.
Through this partnership, Ocelotl will help pre-apprentices to:
Persist and succeed in dual enrollment college coursework.
Build resilience, reduce stress, and prevent disengagement.
Strengthen self-efficacy as learners and leaders.
Develop leadership and collaboration skills aligned with future roles as educators.
Foster a supportive peer culture that increases program retention and success.
Luis Bibiano, Freshman at College of Alameda, and Ocelotl alum of Community Corp, Mentoring and Language Navigators accepted the role of Support Teacher for the Adult Apprenticeship program. Luis is part of a team supporting the twenty-seven college undergrads who are in their first year of OUSD’s Early Educator Apprenticeship Program aimed at PK-3rd grade staff such as Instructional Assistants, Para Educators, Early Literacy Tutors, and those without an AA degree who aspire to work with children and families.
The 2-3 year program awards participants with 48 UC-CSU transferable units and enables them to obtain the Master Teacher permit in Early Childhood Education. Upon completion, participants will qualify for full-time teaching roles in preschool classrooms, with ongoing chances for career advancement through additional apprenticeships while pursuing a bachelor's degree.
And Ocelotl ED Robin Noel Morales, is additionally offering the first year Early Educator Apprentices trainings and consultation to support them with bringing their Power into Purpose as the Experts of their Own Experience. While they are receiving the ‘formal’ training to be teachers, they can teach US and each other so much about what it feels like to be a student and what young people need. Ocelotl’s curriculum is designed for this. We make Medicine with and for young people.
We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue to be a part of Oakland Unified’s important work training the educators that we need. And giving them the opportunity to lead.
