Director's Message
What a great year 2006 turned out to be!

We'll let the numbers speak for themselves:

• 100% of our students who completed three terms of College Excel went on to four-year colleges. (The list of these colleges can be found on our website.)
• 50% of our students, who completed three terms of College Excel, received merit scholarships of $4000 or higher based on their academic performance while participating in the College Excel program!
• 100% of our students who needed to complete high school were successful within six months of their enrollment.
• 100% of these high-school-completion students went on to college.
• 80% of our students who enrolled to rebuild their academic record had GPA's of 3.5 or higher.

Wow! We're so proud of all of them.

Other accomplishments from the year included adding four college-accredited courses, opening the Academic Center of Excellence, renovating the Community Center, starting a peer recovery group, making a promotional video with our students, and creating a new web site.

As you know we're growing! New staff we added this year include three life coaches, an academic coach, three tutors, and a full-time enrollment counselor.

Of course, we're about more than just academics. We also like to have fun! Some of the student activities in 2006 included an eight-day wilderness expedition to King's Canyon National Park, a summer abroad program in Italy, rock climbing trips, white-water kayaking classes, a city-league basketball team, and culinary arts classes.

We want to extend a huge thanks to all of our students and parents for making 2006 the best year ever. We look forward to an even more dynamic year in '07!

Sincerely,
Jeannie Crowell & Sue Harless
Directors
College Excel

An Inside Perspective:
Our Trip to New Orleans
This past December, College Excel students and coaches embarked on a weeklong service-learning trip into the heart of New Orleans. The purpose of this trip was to contribute to the re-building efforts in response to the Hurricane Katrina destruction.

We thought the best way to learn about this adventure was from the words of one of the coaches on the trip. Here are some of the journal entries written during the course of the week.
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Education Corner
We believe in the power of education! This section is dedicated to providing information and insights into how college-age adults can better function in the world.

Brain Science 101: The Power of Neuro-Pathways (part 3of a 4-part series)
by Jeannie Crowell

As we learned in the first two parts of our Brain Series, repeated use of drugs and activities that affect dopamine levels can change the brain structure and cause neurological (or "neuro-adaptive") changes. These neuro-adaptive changes strengthen new memory connections that are referred to as "neuro-pathways." These new pathways in our brain distort our cognitive and emotional functions and change our natural motivational control circuits.
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