Red Bank Regional High School Principal Risa Clay (far right) and ELL teacher Rose Powers (left) with ELL students. LITTLE SILVER — Red Bank Regional High School (RBR) has a large contingent of English Language Learner (ELL) students enrolled in college from its 2009 graduating class, thanks to a special program.

The class of 2009 also demonstrated a 100 percent graduation rate compared to a 64 percent graduation rate for the nation.

This past November, the proven success of the comprehensive program "Puente al Futuro," or "Bridge to the Future," was presented at a national educational conference in San Antonio. The presentation was made by Risa Clay, RBR ELL/bilingual supervisor and acting principal, who designed the program, along with ELL teacher Rose Powers.

Over the past seven years, RBR has assembled a program incorporating bilingual and academic support, staff development and college incentives. Early on, the district retooled its curriculum and added Spanishspeaking aides to the classroom to give students the best opportunity to learn English and compete with native-speaking students. The addition of aides allowed for teaching the English language and content-area subjects simultaneously. A summer program was established to keep language skills sharp during the vacation hiatus.

Student motivation was maintained with a college incentive program based on the Bill Gates education model, where college is always considered the goal. RBR developed a partnership with Brookdale Community College that allows students to take six credits on Brookdale's campus in their senior year and receive transportation, mentoring, tutoring and other support from the high school. Students are also required to attend summer programming and afterschool tutorials to improve their skills to narrow the achievement gap and prepare them for the rigors of college. Those who were successful were granted a full scholarship to Brookdale upon high school graduation.

The initial scholarship was provided by a generous benefactor, Rumson resident Richard Kroon, in memory of his son Andrew. The Andrew Kroon Memorial Scholarship has grown to accept other contributions. RBR is actively looking for additional scholarship funding as the program grows.

This year another very important component, a community mentoring program, was created to maximize RBR alumni's post-graduation success. When students graduate from RBR, they lose the benefit of support services. Additionally, many ELL students hold down full-time jobs while attending college due to financial need. As a result, the students can easily become overwhelmed and may have to defer or give up their college dream.

A program created by community leaders David Prown and Rosie Matriz, of Red Bank, organized professional community volunteers to individually mentor these college students and help mitigate some of the obstacles they face. The community mentors guide students to navigate the complexities of college life.

The RBR "Puente Al Futuro" has evolved through the years as a proven model for immigrant student success and has been twice recognized by the state of New Jersey as a model ELL program.