Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) staff from all 23 CSU campuses will be at Sonoma State Sept. 18-20 for “Guiding, Empowering, and Mentoring,” a professional development conference.
But for the planners – and many of the members – EOP is more than a profession. It’s a personal calling.
Established 55 years ago, EOP was part of the social justice movement and was founded by people who risked their futures to create it, Conference Chair Shiva Parsa said.
“They didn’t have to do it; they didn’t have to fight to open the doors of education. We now carry that responsibility, and these conferences bring the entire EOP together to further that mission,” said Parsa, who is Senior Director of EOP at Cal State Northridge.
“A majority of the staff are alumni of the program, like me,” said Oscar Martin Gardea, Director of Educational Opportunity & Pathway Programs at San Francisco State. “Now I'm in the director's chair giving back to a program that's allowed me to be here.”
“EOP supports California’s most underserved communities, a majority of whom are from historically low-income backgrounds and will be first to college in their families,” he said.
“Many of them have been guided not to go to college,” Martin Gardea said. “EOP staff have expertise in convincing those students that they have the potential to go to college and succeed. Since many of us were in EOP, we have empathy and lived experience to share. And we are living proof that it can be done.”
“We also have to convince students that it’s OK to ask for help. In many communities, that’s a sign of weakness,” said Khou Yang-Vigil, Director of SSU Equity & Access Programs.
As part of an advocacy-based program, EOP students are taught to be advocates, she said. “We tell them, ‘Advocate for yourself and other students in your class. You are responsible for keeping these doors open.’
“All 23 CSUs have EOP graduates. You become part of a family and a vast network of over 300,000 EOP alumni throughout California. There’s great pride in that. That’s why we use the call and response chant, ‘Who are we? E-O-P!’”