Call it a “College Come Back” For Class of 2020 La Quinta High School Graduate, Ariel Jennings

In 2020, Ariel Jennings was preparing to graduate with honors from La Quinta High School in the Desert Sands Unified School District. She applied to four different UC campuses, and was accepted into the pre-med program at UC Riverside. 

But, like thousands of graduates from the Class of 2020 who worked so hard to earn acceptance into top universities, her name was not among the list of those enrolled at any of the prestigious schools to which she applied. 

At the end of the summer in 2020, many colleges and universities were noticing that students like Ariel were accepted, but were not registering for classes.  

“Finances were a big issue for my family as my dad is a single parent and the sole provider for our family. So, the whole process was really stressful with the pandemic, and I felt on my own,” Ariel said. “I couldn’t see what financial aid I would be getting, and didn’t know I was missing paperwork, so I just decided I would enroll in community college classes at College of the Desert.” 

One day, late in the summer of 2020, Ariel received a call from Dr. Yuri Nava, one of the many K-12 school counselors and administrators contracted by the Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) from local districts who were working the phones to try and bridge the COVID-shaped gap between college acceptance letters from the spring, and the dreams of 2020 graduates who were about to lose their hard-earned invitation to a university experience. The program, dubbed, College Comeback, is the first of its kind in California.  

“She called me and asked me why I wasn’t registered for classes at UC Riverside after being accepted earlier in the year,” Ariel said. “She helped me understand what was missing with my paperwork, explained my options, and then I saw that there was still a chance for me to attend UCR.” 

Ariel describes Dr. Nava’s involvement as “a kind of middleman” who helped connect her with the right people and processes that she was unable to access from such a distance. Dr. Nava was part of a  team of six who spent 25 hours a week reaching out to the high school class of 2020 after data revealed that 2,300 fewer students in Riverside County ⁠— a decline of around 8% ⁠— went to college in fall 2020 compared to the year before. To this day, RCOE staff members and interns are re-connecting students from the Class of 2020 to their post-secondary dreams.  

“When I finally saw the financial aid package I said, ‘This is something I can actually do, and this is something I should do,’” Ariel said. 

Dr. Nava also helped support Ariel through the late registration process and connected Ariel with a UCR counselor. 

“Without that phone call, I would have been at College of the Desert, but I would have been less happy,” Ariel said. “Even though community college is great and has a lot of benefits, UCR was something I really wanted, and I didn’t want to have to figure out a transfer. I’m happier with where I am now.”  

During her first year of distance learning at UCR, Ariel lived with her family in the desert. She took on multiple jobs to supplement her income, pay bills, and save money for moving to an apartment in Riverside near the campus. As the first in her family to attend college, she is aware that her younger siblings are watching her navigate a new pathway to college. 

“My younger sister is in AVID right now, and I’m glad that she is watching me go through the process,” Ariel said. 

Ariel’s first days as a UCR student in fall 2020 were still confusing—especially since everything was online due to COVID-19 restrictions. She learned how to communicate with professors in her general education courses while taking introductory courses in her major—political science. After working in the office of a desert-area attorney and participating in an internship in another legal setting, Ariel hopes to pursue a career as an attorney. 

As the 2021 fall quarter is set to begin, Ariel will set foot on the UC Riverside campus for the first time since she was a high school freshman visiting the university on an AVID school trip.  

“It was always a joke when I was younger, but, the first thing I really want to do when I get on campus, is to take a book and read on the grass somewhere—just like in the movies.”