Portland State Magazine Spring 2016

SPRING 2016 pORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 23 spring DIANA SALGADO and Lorena Gayton are seniors at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, and both will be first-generation college students next year. They heard about senior inquiry from teachers and wanted the opportu- nity to explore what a college course would be like while taking advantage of the dual-credit option that allows students to transfer up to 15 credits when they enter college. Salgado—who serves as a non- member, student representative to the Reynolds School District Board—says she appreciates how the class with 60 of her fellow students has expanded her perspective and the way she learns. “We have discussions that are meaningful,” Salgado says. “In senior inquiry we talk about real things that are happening today. You think more critically. It has helped me because once you read something and apply it to your life, it has a different meaning to it.” She also enjoys the opportunity to interact with the PSU instructor for Reynolds, Sonja Taylor. Salgado has applied to more than 20 colleges, and though she’s been accepted to most, she’s waiting to hear back from more before making a final decision about where to pursue her bachelor’s degree—probably in biology. As a prospective first-generation college student, she says getting to ask Taylor for advice about college and developing comfort with college-style learning through senior inquiry is an important benefit of the course. Gayton echoes that sentiment. Next year she’ll likely start college at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles, where she’s received an $80,000, four-year scholarship. Gayton previously took AP classes, but senior inquiry has allowed her to dive into critical thinking and push herself to prepare for next year. She says the best part of the course is the diversity of topics and the way students are encouraged to engage with the curriculum in new ways. “They tell us to connect two totally different topics together—or even a book we’re reading on a foreign affairs topic—and you really have to sit there and think and analyze every aspect of the situation to find a connection,” Gayton says. “I think that’s the best way to go about curriculum in general because you really expose yourself to different perspec- tives and different beliefs.” THIS IS TAYLOR’s first year teaching senior inquiry, though she also teaches sophomore inquiry at PSU. She says the two days a week she spends at Reynolds are inspiring, and she’s excited by how the students are growing and learning through the course. “Even if they never go to college, because of the way we run the class they’re going to be more engaged, thinking citizens,” she says. “They have an edge.” Taylor, who is currently completing her doctorate in sociology, was a first-generation college student herself, and says it took her until halfway through her second master’s degree to realize how much money and time she’d spent just to understand the higher education system. Working with first-generation students to better understand college early on is an important part of her work in senior inquiry. “It makes them so much more likely to be successful and less afraid of failure,” Taylor says. And her students have embraced the format of the class. Though she’s enjoyed her senior inquiry experience, Gayton says high school students need much more of this type of learning at every grade level. “This course has been the most enlightening class I’ve ever taken, honestly,” she says. “The things we talk about and the combination of intellectual challenge and personal reflection I think is the most important thing a student needs to acquire.”  Bess Pallares is a graduate assistant in the Office of University Communications. Also a senior inquiry student at Reynolds High School, Diana Salgado is now confident that she can handle university classes in the fall.