After-school tutoring center helps Concord students to finish school and plan future

Karla Amaya

Books open, pens out, kids tapping their fingers figuring out the answer to the math problem, all things typical on a Thursday afternoon at the GGI (Go Get It) after-school tutoring center in Concord.
“Go get whatever you want…your dreams, your goals”, says Maria Reyes, 26, founder of the GGI when asked to describe GGI’s name.
Reyes, originally from Mexico, came up with the idea for the GGI and became 2003 Koshland recipient. With the money from the Koshland grant, Reyes was able to make the GGI a reality.
The GGI, not only an after school tutoring program, helps young students prepare for college. Situated in the Monument Corridor, the predominately Latin based community, in Concord the GGI serves mostly Latin youth but is open to all. It meets Tuesdays and Thursdays afternoons. The program helps the teenagers with their homework and talking to them about their career exploration project. To become a member of the GGI a student must complete the career exploration project, a project where they research their college of choice and career. The student must then present the project to their parents. Active parent participation is required.
Reyes created the GGI after talking to teenagers and hearing their need for after school programs and because of her own personal experience.
“I just thought with good grades I would just get in (to college)…that was not the case”, says Reyes in describing her experience.
Education always a strong value within her family but while attending high school, Reyes had no one to counsel her in applying for colleges. One major reason in 1992, due to a lack of funds, Mt. Diablo School District no longer had college counselors. While being enrolled at the community college Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill that is where Reyes as she refers to her “blindfold” was removed. She transferred to UC Davis where she received her BS in Sociology. She is planning on returning back to begin her masters in either Public Health or Public Administration.
The quote “Without vision people will perish” has always stuck with Reyes.
“If people have a dream, an idea and take specific steps and know those steps they will succeed. If they don’t know, they’ll never get there”, says Reyes.
Which is why the GGI was created to give young people the tools to make their vision a reality.