All of the 24 students graduating on Wednesday plan to pursue bachelor's degrees at a program offered by UC Irvine.SAN DIEGO — More than 20 students taking classes through Southwestern College will graduate Wednesday with associate's degrees in sociology and liberal arts, but they won't be on campus to receive their diplomas.
As part of the Restorative Justice Program, which began in 2016, Southwestern College faculty provide face-to-face instruction to incarcerated students. Since its inception, Southwestern College has served more than 1,500 students at the Donovan Correctional Facility, helping them earn degrees and certificates in business administration, liberal arts, communications, American Sign Language and sociology, according to a statement from SWC.
"My journey with Southwestern was truly restorative," said program graduate Derek Adams."With each class, I regained a piece of my confidence, worth, and humanity. "Almost all of our Southwestern College graduates are utilizing their associate's degree to transfer to four-year universities," Funches told City News Service."While incarcerated at RJ Donovan, these students now have the amazing opportunity to transfer to UC Irvine's Leveraging Inspiring Futures Through Educational Degrees program, the first in-prison BA-degree completion program in the University of California system.