1999 was the first year of 100% participation in the Science Fair by ESL students from Ortega Middle School.

ESL students had never participated in the District School to Career program until Jeanie urged students to take part.

Non-English speaking students were paired with Bilingual people from the community allowing 100% participation by ESL students.
Above students and their Career Partners attend the School to Career Banquet.

Jeanie was able to make great gains with the students learning English

One student, from Guatemala, had never held a pencil and did not read
At the end of the year he was able to use the computer and was beginning to read and write

It takes a minimum of three years for a child to gain a command of the language and possibly longer in older students

Street language is learned first but a working vocabulary and business language takes more time