Trust and Success Go Together  

David Vinas, High School Program Supervisor, on the importance of strong relationships in student programs

“As a first-generation college graduate myself, I know the importance of college preparatory programs. I know what it is like to struggle, overcome challenges, and succeed,” says David Vinas, Canal Alliance’s high school program supervisor for the University Prep! (UP!) program.  

Each year, Canal Alliance’s UP! program serves approximately 150 low-income Latino youth, supporting them as they work to graduate from high school and complete a four-year college degree.   

The UP! program, which begins in sixth grade and continues through middle school and high school, is designed around five pillars that research has shown to be crucial for student success: academic readiness, social-emotional skills, family engagement, college admission, and financial readiness. Through UP!, students receive intensive afterschool academic support, including tutoring in core subjects, homework assistance, social-emotional learning, behavioral health support, enrichment activities, family coaching, parent engagement, and college application assistance.  Once in college, Canal Alliance provides ongoing support to students to help them complete a four-year degree through the College to Career (C2C) program, which provides ongoing social-emotional and behavioral health support, scholarship assistance, and academic tutoring. 

David, who has been a key member of the Canal Alliance team since 2022, brings these tenets to life with his students, serving as a mentor, teacher, and coach. David guides students through high school academics, ensuring they take all the coursework necessary to be eligible for college and that they are successful in those classes. From there, UP! students work with David and the Canal Alliance education staff on college applications, including their essays, the university selection and acceptance process, and financial aid and scholarship applications. Once they’ve accepted a school, David and his team guide them through the many steps of making a deposit, setting up housing, creating meal plans, deciding class schedules, and more. 

“Even for a student with all of the resources in the world, the college process is a complicated one,” says David. “Our UP! program works to remove as many of the barriers our kids face as possible, addressing the economic, political, and social hurdles that stand between these kids and their successful futures.”  

“The high schools our students attend here in Marin are big,” continues David, adding, “San Rafael High and Terra Linda High School both have more than 500 students. What this can mean in practice is that not all students receive the 1:1 academic support or counseling they might need to ensure they’re on path to college… taking the required courses, meeting application deadlines, completing paperwork for financial aid… the list goes on. And for our students, most of whom live here in the Canal, their parents are often working multiple jobs to make ends meet and may not speak English, further complicating things for these kids.  For our students and their parents, the UP! program is a solution to this challenge. Our kids’ parents’ get them here to Canal Alliance week after week for years because they know we can fill the gap, support their children on this journey.” 

“So many of our students are overcoming incredible odds,” says David, remembering a student who lost her father at a young age but persevered in high school, got the grades necessary to go to college, and is now thriving at UC Santa Barbara. “Her mother is so proud of her hard work and perseverance,” says David, “And so am I.” 

Thanks to David and his team, our UP! students are finding their own successes; in FY24 the UP! program boasted a 95% re-enrollment rate, 100% high school graduation rate for seniors, and a 100% college enrollment rate. 

From David’s perspective, this success is built on the strength of the relationships built as part of the program. And those relationships, he says, can be at least partially attributed to the duration of Canal Alliance’s student programs. “This isn’t a short program like some other afterschool or college prep programs, it’s a program that can last up to 10 years,” he says.  

“Strong and enduring bonds are formed in this time… between staff and students, between the students themselves, and between our staff and the parents. Over the years, with time and devotion, we are able to build trusting and communicative relationships with our students and their parents, and we all work together to solve problems and find solutions.” 

“I measure success by the relationships that we have with one another, at the end of the day that’s what stands. My success in my own life is thanks to the relationships I have, and it is the same with my students. Their ability to trust me, and to speak openly about their challenges and struggles is essential. Being from Santa Rosa, when I first joined Canal Alliance my students saw me as the outsider, but with time and devotion they now see me as an ally. This is so important to me, and to their success as they pursue their dreams.” 

For David, doing this work in Marin County is particularly meaningful. In the UP! program, while a main focus is on college preparedness and enrollment, David says staff work equally hard to create exposure to all types of opportunities for students, citing cases in which graduates have pursued the arts, or theater, or other certification programs after high school.  

“We’re located in a fortunate area, and there are a lot of opportunities we can make available to our kids. We can expose our students to internships and volunteer opportunities. We encourage our students to pursue their talents and passions.  What we care about most is sending our students out into the world with a set of tools they can lean on to succeed.” 

For David, he says his role feels like the right fit because he participated in similar programs as a high school student himself and says “I admire and appreciate the work my teachers did for me. Doing this work for students in the Canal is a way for me to pay it forward.