Back to the Future: Future Launch Celebration Includes First Cohort of College Grads
By David Jacobson
Eighty-six high school seniors from throughout San Mateo County walked the stage in a graduation style ceremony for BGCP’s annual Future Launch Celebration, May 18 at the organization’s Mervin G. Morris Clubhouse in Redwood City.
But this was no mere procession. It was more a progression…for students from humble beginnings on their way to limitless futures. Each student stopped to speak, some choking up with gratitude for the friends, family, and second family, in the form of the BGCP community that helped them make it to that moment.
The shout outs from those students to program leaders, staff, and mentors were innumerable. Each speech ended with a student’s declaration of destination for post-secondary education.
Perhaps as proud as the parents of these Future Grads program participants were their mentor “coaches.” These tireless volunteers support the students in academics, life skills, and college applications throughout high school and provide additional years of consulting to ensure that students make it to college and through college.
None of those mentors could have been prouder than Tony and Denise Lautmann, the Future Grads program founders, who have continued to provide direct mentorship service to students since starting the program in 2015.
A separate stage-walk featured 16 transfer graduates (many who attended community college) announcing their next steps. All applied to four-year institutions:
- All eight who applied to UC Santa Barbara were admitted.
- Five of 16 who applied to UCLA gained admission.
- Four of 16 who applied to Cal Berkeley were admitted.
Another progression spotlighted the original cohort of 32 Future Grads from 2015, who this spring completed their undergraduate four-year degrees and announced plans for grad school or professional employment.
The plethora of potential on display included outstanding work by Masters of Ceremony and Future Grads alums Maria Casique Leon and Nicole Cruz Mariche.
Future Grads leader Dr. Esmeralda Ortiz, BGCP’s Vice President, High School & Postsecondary Programs, summed up Future Grads’ impact: “My dissertation focused on this program, and the number-one differentiator students reported was the individualized attention they got in Future Grads to complement the services they received from their high schools.”
Dr. Ortiz would have included that information and other findings in a longer speech she had prepared for the evening but decided to keep her remarks brief, “because everyone else who crossed the stage expressed that so well in their own ways.”
The embodiment of that expression came from graduating high school senior Sophia Bai. At the start of her remarks, Sophia said she had planned to skip the ceremony due to discomfort from believing herself to be a poor public speaker, and by the end of her remarks she proved that belief wrong.
In an unusual show of vulnerability and self-awareness, Sophia shared she knew she might regret not speaking from the stage. Her getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is a simple definition of the courage it takes to rise from humble beginnings to a limitless future.
Watch the Future Launch Celebration Recap Video.
