Students Preparing for Academic Rigor and Knowledge

Ensuring Freshman Student Success
Each mind is unique, wired differently - some minds hear music, some minds love numbers, some minds create beautiful words or striking images, some minds design or build things, and some minds take care of people in a special way.

What does your mind do best?
SPARK! is a great way to find out.

SPARK! is a program designed to give freshman students, a jump-start into academic success, using your uniquely wired mind to advantage. The program brings together the best teaching and mentoring practices developed and used by educational experts from across the country to build on your unique abilities.

In just 7-weeks during the summer, with the help of specially trained mentors, counselors and teachers, you can:

• Know your own unique mind
• Design the best program to cultivate your special wiring
• Acquire critical computer skills
• Develop effective reading and writing skills
• Navigate the university with confidence
• Develop useful study skills, test-taking strategies and time management
• Retrieve library information quickly and efficiently
• Gain a global perspective and appreciation of our cultural diversity
• Master collaborative learning approaches
• Commit to academic integrity in the classroom and empowering ethics in life
• Learn to network and maintain ties to a broader community

All this while you earn course credit for three, 3-unit courses (9 units total)!

Every Friday, you will have the opportunity to network with fellow students, talk to faculty in a more relaxed setting and discuss topics of interest to you.

If you qualify for financial aid, you will be able to apply your aid to the summer classes.

And there are other benefits.

In the fall and spring semesters, you will be given:

• Enrollment priority
• Specialized academic advising
• Access to classes designed to capitalize on the summer experience
• Group tutorials and individuals coaching
• Easy computer access and technical support

You will then be eligible for a second summer session, which will enable you to strengthen your mathematical skills with the help of instructors who understand the challenges that math presents to most students and who know how to help you meet those challenges.

If you are interested in pursuing a career in science or technology, you will find this intensive program invaluable as a means to acquire the building blocks necessary for science application.

Here is what you need to know to get started.

To qualify you must:

• Be a graduating high school senior
• Apply for admission, and be accepted, to CSUDH
• Complete the Free Application of Federal Student Aid
• Register to take the SAT or ACT test and the English Placement Test (EPT) and the Elementary Level Math Test
• Be willing to abide by the terms of a Learning Contract to be developed for each of the SPARK! students, and
• Complete and submit a SPARK! Participation Form to the Program Coordinator (contact the SPARK! Program Office, 310-243-3181)

If you meet the requirements, you can be among the students eligible to participate in the SPARK! Program.

And, you will be on your way to ensured student success!