High School Program

While high schoolers at CCATE participate in our weekly afterschool program, they also have a number of activities designed specifically for them. The goal of our work with high schoolers is to help prepare them for post-secondary success, develop college and career-readiness, and to provide a space for them to socialize and explore issues of interest and important to them. Students have the opportunity to receive one on one mentoring with local college students as well as college visits. Many of our high schoolers participate in the program “OnTrack to Post-Secondary Education,” an online e-learning and career readiness program.

Classes Offered

  • Girls Group
  • SAT Math
  • College Prep
  • Podcast
  • Film making
  • Weekly HS Meeting
Large group of students sitting in a circle during a high school group meeting

Youth Leadership & Empowerment

Youth Leadership and Empowerment

CCATE is committed to empowering our students and nurturing their leadership. We achieve this by giving our youth safe spaces to express their thoughts. True elevation of our community’s voice and experience can only be achieved when every member of our community gets a say in what kind of programs they would like to see and what CCATE will look like for the years to come. By CCATE’s nurturing of their leadership, our students become future leaders who think effectively, express themselves clearly, and closely listen to those that they lead. 

Youth leadership groups include: 

  • CCATE Reps 
  • Chicas Unidas
  • Youth Participatory Research 
  • Finding Your Voice 
  • Summer High School Summer Leadership Institute 

Girls Empowerment

–Girls Generation–

Girls Generation is an intergenerational program for girls and young women.
The weekly groups are designed to provide culturally relevant leadership training through strengthening peer relationships, providing models of collaborative female leadership, and the development of a critical lens to raise girls’ awareness of how gender ­bias and racial discrimination impact their lives.

Summer High School Leadership Institute (HSLI)

July 2022 marked the inauguration of CCATE’s first annual high school leadership institute (HSLI) for students entering Grades 9-12. The goals of this week-long intensive program are for 15 high school students to develop leadership skills, build community, explore post-secondary options including career and college preparation and planning, and develop skills for supporting mental health, self-care, and healthy relationships. The institute includes college visits, career workshops with local professionals and community members, and daily small group and one-on-one work with university undergraduate and graduate students.

College Visits & Trips

Since 2016 CCATE has organized an annual college road trip for high school students who commit to the program and volunteer with younger students. Past trips: New Haven & Yale (2016), Cornell & Ithaca (2017), New York City (2018), Drexel University (2019), Thomas Jefferson University (2020), New York City (2025) and Boston (April 2026).

Penn Model OAS

Through the Latin American and Latinx Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, CCATE students take part in the Penn Model Organization of American States, representing member countries at the Model OAS General Assembly in Washington, D.C. Read about the 2018 Model OAS award →

Register for the High School Program