Before coming to UC Berkeley, senior Xavier Salazar was not on the path to getting a college education.

Salazar dropped out of high school as a sophomore with a 1.4 GPA. But after his sister encouraged him to continue his education, he took the initiative to complete his diploma at a continuing school.

Salazar said he and other ethnic minority students at his high school were placed in remedial classes although they were academically capable.

"We were really put down by the school," he said.

Hoping to help high school students facing similar educational challenges, Salazar helped found Spread the Word, a UC Berkeley student group that mentors disadvantaged students and educates them about ways to go to college.

Started in the fall semester as a project for UC Berkeley's Education 190 class, the group makes trips every few Fridays to Richmond High School.

UC Berkeley junior Latieshia Flowers, another member of the group, said the group selected Richmond High because of statistics from a California Department of Education report.

Richmond High was found to have a high percentage of low-income families and a high dropout rate for the 2006-07 school year, the report stated.

The report stated that 132 out of 1,677 students at the high school dropped out in the 2006-07 school year.

"We were trying to find a school that was predominantly low income, (that) didn't really have a lot of qualified teachers," Flowers said. "Basically, a school that was lacking a lot of support."

At Berkeley High School, the report showed that only 60 out of 3,384 students dropped out in the 2006-07 school year.

"We decided that Berkeley High School did not need us as much as Richmond High School," said UC Berkeley junior Dannielle Glover, a member of the group.

One aspect of college opportunities taught to students is how to acquire financial aid, which members taught through a game they had developed similar to the Monopoly board game.

Richmond High freshman Genesis Castillo said the group showed her that financial aid could help her pursue higher education.

"I can go to college and be somebody whether I have the money or not," she said.

The group is not the first to continue its project after the assignment it was created for finished, said UC Berkeley education professor John Hurst, who founded the education minor.

He said other UC Berkeley programs, including the SAGE Scholars Program, began in an education class.

Flowers said the group is looking to get involved with more students at Richmond High and expand to other high schools in Richmond, Oakland and other Bay Area cities.

"The ultimate goal is for our program to be in all the high schools in the area that are struggling," she said.

Tags: RICHMOND HIGH SCHOOL