From Salinas to Ivy League, the story of the Puente Program

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV)- It's not too common for first-generation students to get into prestigious universities -- like Harvard and Yale.

But two twin sisters did it and they couldn't thank the Puente program at Rancho San Juan high school in Salinas enough for helping them accomplish their goals.

"They helped you become more involved in your community and be in a community during your 4 years of high school," said Carolyn Dorantes, senior at Rancho San Juan high school. "So, that definitely helped me when I was applying to college."

Dorantes and her sister, Karen, are graduating Rancho San Juan in a few weeks. One hopes to major in computer science while the other is looking at ethnicity, race and migration for their studies.

Ms. Henry and Mr. Williams who helps run the program wants to encourage freshman students to apply to see if they qualify.

"They have to be committed to wanting to go to a 4-year university," said Jordana Henry, Puente English & AP English & Composition teacher at Rancho San Juan. "And again, our program primarily serves first-generation students but the biggest part of our program is we're getting the students who come in freshman year and say "I want to go to a 4-year university."

Some of those other requirements is to complete 125 community service hours and to have a 3.5 GPA.
The Dorante's twin sisters want to inspire other students to succeed who, like them, maybe don't know too much about the process to apply for college. 

"Become involved in your school community," said Karen Dorantes, senior at Rancho San Juan. "Reach out to your teachers, counselors, I think, um, the most important thing is for incoming freshman is to know what classes to take in order to be eligible for college."

27 students who are part of the Puente program at Rancho San Juan will be graduating soon. There are only two Puente programs at two high schools in Salinas. One at Alvarez and the other one at Rancho San Juan.