Barrier busters | College leader's past sharpens his focus on students; futures
The concept of a success coach, at least in the formal sense, was unheard of in 1967, when a stranger took a seat next to Larry Calderon in a Southern California coffee shop and began peppering the college freshman with questions about his academic future. At the time, Calderon didn’t have many answers. His priorities in high school had started with football and ended with track.
Although most of his peers went straight from high school into the military or the local job pool, higher education had lurked on the periphery during Calderon’s boyhood. His mother, a high school dropout who packed oranges at a processing plant near the family’s home in rural Southern California, wanted more for her son. His father, an Italian immigrant who came to the United States out of Mexico, had taken some college classes. “In my family there was talk that you should consider college, but it was not something you heard every day or something that was expected,” Calderon recalled.
Although most of his peers went straight from high school into the military or the local job pool, higher education had lurked on the periphery during Calderon’s boyhood. His mother, a high school dropout who packed oranges at a processing plant near the family’s home in rural Southern California, wanted more for her son. His father, an Italian immigrant who came to the United States out of Mexico, had taken some college classes. “In my family there was talk that you should consider college, but it was not something you heard every day or something that was expected,” Calderon recalled.
 | Broward Community College President Larry Calderon does a little “coaching” of his own with students on the college’s downtown campus in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. |
Still, Calderon gave it at least a half-hearted try. He enrolled at Ventura College, a two-year institution near his home, and signed up for classes that fit a lifestyle revolving around his girlfriend, working out in the gym and keeping his car waxed and polished.
His expectations were still low when, 12 weeks into his first semester, the stranger in the coffee shop asked Calderon what he planned to do after finishing his general education program at Ventura. Calderon was honest: He didn’t have a clue.
The stranger introduced himself as a recruiter for the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). Calderon was surprised –- and intimidated. In the rare moments when he had pondered his future, he saw himself at one of the four-year schools in the Cal State system. After all, back then the U-Cal schools were for the smart kids. The recruiter asked permission to see the teenager’s transcript.“When he found me a week later, I was embarrassed,” recalled Calderon.“I had a 1.5 GPA, and I had dropped out of more courses than I had stayed in –- and this was in the first 12 weeks of the semester.”
Undeterred, the recruiter pulled out a worksheet and showed Calderon the steps necessary to transfer to UCSB.Two weeks later, Calderon returned home one afternoon to find his mother nearly in tears. She held a letter announcing that, if he met the requirements outlined by the recruiter, her son would be admitted to UCSB.
Calderon called the recruiter, who told the astounded teen: “I told you I’d do my job, now you have to do your job. I’ll meet you every two to three weeks to see how you’re doing and make sure you’re OK.”
Listening to Calderon recount this decadesold story, co-worker Ted Wright finally spoke up.“A success coach,” he said.“You had a success coach.”
Calderon smiled. “You know, I guess I did. I never thought of that before.”
The coaching certainly worked. Today, Calderon isn’t merely a UCSB graduate; he has master’s and doctoral degrees in education from the University of Southern California. He’s also the president –- and Wright’s boss –- at Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In that role,Calderon has earned a reputation as an energetic innovator who leads by personal example and a leader who has made student success an institution-wide priority.
Perhaps the most prominent example of that is his college’s commitment to Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a national effort aimed at improving the success rates of students at two-year institutions.
Ted Wright’s presence on campus is part of that commitment. Wright serves as a special assistant to Calderon,working as the Achieving the Dream coordinator to supervise a program that matches at-risk students with faculty and staff mentors. You could call him the head coach among Broward’s staff of student success coaches.
And, as Calderon’s life shows, a little coaching can make a big difference. It also shows that benefits often work both ways: Before taking the reins at Broward in February 2004, Calderon served nine years as president at Ventura, the community college that had accepted him as an unfocused freshman back in the ’60s.
His expectations were still low when, 12 weeks into his first semester, the stranger in the coffee shop asked Calderon what he planned to do after finishing his general education program at Ventura. Calderon was honest: He didn’t have a clue.
The stranger introduced himself as a recruiter for the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). Calderon was surprised –- and intimidated. In the rare moments when he had pondered his future, he saw himself at one of the four-year schools in the Cal State system. After all, back then the U-Cal schools were for the smart kids. The recruiter asked permission to see the teenager’s transcript.“When he found me a week later, I was embarrassed,” recalled Calderon.“I had a 1.5 GPA, and I had dropped out of more courses than I had stayed in –- and this was in the first 12 weeks of the semester.”
Undeterred, the recruiter pulled out a worksheet and showed Calderon the steps necessary to transfer to UCSB.Two weeks later, Calderon returned home one afternoon to find his mother nearly in tears. She held a letter announcing that, if he met the requirements outlined by the recruiter, her son would be admitted to UCSB.
Calderon called the recruiter, who told the astounded teen: “I told you I’d do my job, now you have to do your job. I’ll meet you every two to three weeks to see how you’re doing and make sure you’re OK.”
Listening to Calderon recount this decadesold story, co-worker Ted Wright finally spoke up.“A success coach,” he said.“You had a success coach.”
Calderon smiled. “You know, I guess I did. I never thought of that before.”
The coaching certainly worked. Today, Calderon isn’t merely a UCSB graduate; he has master’s and doctoral degrees in education from the University of Southern California. He’s also the president –- and Wright’s boss –- at Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In that role,Calderon has earned a reputation as an energetic innovator who leads by personal example and a leader who has made student success an institution-wide priority.
Perhaps the most prominent example of that is his college’s commitment to Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a national effort aimed at improving the success rates of students at two-year institutions.
Ted Wright’s presence on campus is part of that commitment. Wright serves as a special assistant to Calderon,working as the Achieving the Dream coordinator to supervise a program that matches at-risk students with faculty and staff mentors. You could call him the head coach among Broward’s staff of student success coaches.
And, as Calderon’s life shows, a little coaching can make a big difference. It also shows that benefits often work both ways: Before taking the reins at Broward in February 2004, Calderon served nine years as president at Ventura, the community college that had accepted him as an unfocused freshman back in the ’60s.
