College & career ready: Orange Cove High receive high markings for setting students up for success

ORANGE COVE, Calif. (KFSN) -- As students gear up for graduation, the California Department of Education is determining which are best prepared for their futures.

Adliene Gomez is close to graduation at Orange Cove High School.

The senior is a first-generation student whose parents moved here from Mexico.

"It feels like a dream come true honestly," Gomez said.

As a child, she started kindergarten only speaking Spanish.

She moved to Orange Cove just before high school and has thrived.

She has earned a 4.0 each semester of her high school career.

Her hard work paid off as she was offered a full-ride scholarship through the Smittcamp Family Honors College at Fresno State.

"I cried that day," Gomez said.

She'll be majoring in Nursing pre-health and working on a minor in Spanish.

She says the counselors and staff at the high school has helped her reach her goals.

"They prepare meticulously the classes we take, the programs we go into and they work to help make us reach that - to make it possible," Gomez said.

Career Technical Education Counselor Denise Bernal says they meet one-on-one with each student to figure out what they want to do after high school.

Then, they come up with a plan.

"Everything we do here is intentional, as early on as freshman year all the way through senior year," Bernal said.

According to the 2023 report on College and Career Readiness, 85.5% of students at Orange Cove High are college and career-ready.

That puts them ahead of every other Valley high school except Reedley Middle College High School and University High in Fresno.

The numbers are based on the California Department of Education's College/Career Indicator which measures how likely students are to be successful after graduation.

Students are considered prepared if they meet more than one of the criteria, including:

• completing a CTE pathway
• passing the Advanced Placement test
• completing college credit courses
• meeting the UC/CSU requirements
• earning the State Seal of Biliteracy

"Majority of our students are prepared because they meet A-G or completed pathway," Bernal said.

For students like Gomez, she says all of the work has made her ready to walk across the stage in just a few weeks.

"I feel prepared and honored to be able to live out all of my dreams," Bernal said.

This isn't the first time Orange Cove High has had impressive numbers.

Since 2019, more than 80% of students have been considered college and career-ready.

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