For over three decades, the Connecticut Collegiate Awareness and Preparation (ConnCAP) program has prepared local high schoolers for college and beyond with educational and social support services and cultural enrichment opportunities. Naugatuck Valley Community College has hosted ConnCAP students on its Waterbury campus since 1997.

“The kids love it. This is their second home. They love coming on the campus. They feel like they belong here,” said NVCC ConnCAP Coordinator Ines Velez, who has been with the program for 20 years—first as a student and then as a member of the ConnCAP staff. “I love it. It really is very rewarding to see a kid grow up and do well.”

During the summer months, the ConnCAP program resembles a typical day at high school. Students arrive around 8:20 each morning, eat breakfast; attend English, math and science classes; eat lunch and then attend additional classes, such as human biology, conversational Spanish and forensics before leaving for the day. On Fridays, ConnCAP students learn off campus on field trips.

During the school year, ConnCAP takes the form of an after-school program, providing tutoring, enrichment activities, community service opportunities and field trips to colleges—all while tracking students’ grades and remaining in close contact with their high school instructors.

To be eligible for ConnCAP, students must be first generation for college and/or meet income guidelines. They’re typically recruited while in eighth grade, based on recommendations from guidance counselors or teachers. Students enter the program the summer prior to starting high school and most remain part of ConnCAP throughout high school. Currently, the program serves 100 students from Waterbury’s six high schools (Wilby, Kennedy and Crosby high schools, W.F. Kaynor Technical High School, Waterbury Career Academy and Waterbury Arts Magnet School).

“We try to keep it interesting. We understand students are sacrificing their summers and it’s a big commitment for them, so we want it to be interesting; we want it to be fun; we want it to be interactive,” said Velez.

ConnCAP alumni have gone on to be teachers, lawyers, politicians and doctors—and many of them remain in contact with the program and serve as role models for current students. Velez has witnessed many success stories over the years.

In one case, a boy entered the program after eighth grade, so shy that Velez says she could barely get him to shake his head yes or no to answer a question. Now in his senior year of high school, the young man is a coordinator in NVCC’s GEAR UP initiative and has his sights set on becoming a lawyer.

ConnCAP extends its support beyond the student, to assist families as well. Velez recalls one case in which program staffers were filling out college financial aid applications for a ConnCAP student and the student’s parent at the same time.

“We’re a community in ourselves. We provide support not just to the student but even to the parents when they want to go back to school” said Velez. “We pride ourselves on just making ourselves available for the student, for the families. We have parents coming in who want to sit down and talk about what they should be doing with the student and how we can all support the student as a whole. It’s not just administrators and students; it’s a whole community.”