Xóchitl Fuhriman-Ebert, director of the bilingual/ESL program at Ontario Middle School in Ontario, helps her primarily low-income students make positive choices for their future. Her College Awareness Program/Excursion exposes students to the expectations and logistics of college life through field trips to the local university. For students with low grades or gang affiliation, she initiated a similar program called the Prison Awareness Program/Excursion, through which students learn the harsh realities of prison life as they meet face-to-face with inmates at Boise Prison. A member of the state's Bilingual Content Panel, Ms. Fuhriman-Ebert recently received a Title VII grant to create a site-based professional development program aimed at improving how second language learners are taught.
