Louella Jorgensen realized a lifelong dream in 1999 when she was presented with her diploma, graduating with highest honors, from U.C. Berkeley. Jorgensen’s journey in higher education started years earlier, however, when she enrolled at Skyline College-her introduction to university life.Jorgensen’s story is one of many from students of all ages, backgrounds, and financial levels who attended Skyline College. Skyline has programs and services available that help students achieve dreams they may have thought unreachable, and has helped place countless students into four-year universities. WIT (Women in Transition), EOPS (Extended Opportunity Program and Services), and HTP (Honors Transfer Program) are three Skyline programs that bridge students to four-year colleges. Jorgensen entered college for the first time in midlife, making use of Skyline’s programs that help people who doubt their ability to obtain a college degree. “I’ve never been to college before, and when I went I didn’t know if I could do this as a student who had been out in the workaday world,” Jorgensen said. She was unsure of her ability to handle the stress of being an older woman while competing with the younger students in school.According to Donna Bestock, dean of social science and creative arts, Jorgensen’s fears are common among women who enter college later in their lives. Through a series of special WIT classes and seminars, students are nurtured and encouraged giving them the confidence they often lack. “One thing that most returning women lack is that sense of ‘I can do it’,” Bestock said. “They’re committed, they’ve got the skills, they just don’t have the belief.”Jorgensen, in late middle-age, has gone on to a successful career as an adviser in school admissions at Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont, and is currently working on her master’s in English literature there. She echoed Bestock’s support of WIT:”It gave me the confidence because they understood what it was like to come back to school and they could see the fear in me.” Gabriel Molieri, a Skyline graduate who now teaches computer programs and Anthropology here, had been to vocational school in community college prior to coming to Skyline. His biggest obstacle was as a first generation American student in his family, he had no idea how higher education worked here. “When I was at Skyline I was a returning student and I really didn’t know the ropes as to what being a student was all about,” Molieri said. He took advantage of the EOPS program at Skyline to help him succeed in his studies.EOPS is a program that offers assistance to low income and educationally disadvantaged students, according to Pablo Gonzales, program director. Assistance is offered on many levels, including one-on-one tutorial assistance, bilingual counseling in Spanish, transfer assistance, and UC and CSU application fee waivers.And although the program gives students the tools they need to advance, it also provides the skills required to obtain certificates in the trades, certificates that are needed in industry for job placement and advancement.”EOPS has proven to be a very successful program in bringing students up to college level and beyond, both academically and personally,” Gonzales said. As Molieri progressed successfully through his classes, he looked forward to transferring to a four-year college. Molieri directly credits Skyline’s EOPS program and the Skyline transfer center for putting him on his path to success.”The way they helped me the most was by counseling me,” Molieri says. “They were [both] just part of the team. The transfer center worked with me and it seemed that everyone worked as one family to my benefit.”Molieri learned the system of American higher education so well that from Skyline he went on to U.C. Berkeley, and then to Stanford where he earned his master’s in International comparative education. Now, Molieri is back at Skyline, contributing his talent to today’s students. Besides teaching, he is a mentor to several students, helping them through the difficulties of college, and helping them to move on, despite the obstacles.Not all programs at Skyline are directed toward students in need of assistance. HTP (Honors Transfer Program) is designed for students who know their abilities and direction. They want to be challenged. It offers a rigorous curriculum that focuses on critical thinking and writing skills. Rod Diolula, currently at Berkley, majoring in sociology, was such a student when he attended Skyline from summer 2001-to spring 2003 as an HTP student at Skyline. “The honors transfer program has classes which are more of a seminar class setting,” Diolula said. “The course work is a lot more rigorous when compared to other classes at Skyline that consist of 35 students; the HTP classes would offer class sizes from 15 to 20. “It’s a lot smaller and a lot more personal,” he said.According to Connie Beringer, coordinator of Skyline’s HTP, students applying to many four-year colleges get favorable consideration. Skyline’s HTP has made agreements with colleges, such as UCLA, through the Transfer Alliance Program. Transferring HTP students applying to UCLA from Skyline have a 92 percent chance of admission versus an approximate 30 percent chance for non-HTP community college transfer students.”They [HTP students] are motivated; they have accepted a challenging and rigorous curriculum to prepare themselves to succeed at a U.C.,” Beringer wrote in an e-mail. “They have not taken the easy way out.” Diolula was prepared for the small section classes he has to take at Berkeley, and the oral presentations he has to do in those classes. He juggles his obligations but loves his life, and credits Skyline and HTP for putting him on the path to his dream of being a Berkeley student.Skyline College has a multitude of resources that assist students in their pursuit of higher education. Whether you are a returning student in middle-age, a student whose primary language is not English, or even a student that excels, looking to be challenged, Skyline has the resources to help you reach your goal.