Higher education offers students the opportunity to learn in life-changing courses — and from one another’s diverse perspectives.
UCLA’s Prison Education Program, or PEP, offers incarcerated and non-incarcerated students opportunities to further their education together in the classroom and through additional programming.
In the first episode of the UCLA College’s podcast series “Bruin Stories: The Power of Higher Education” (below), two students share their experiences with the program. One incarcerated student, Ashley “ATL” Tate, shares how it simultaneously nurtured her poetry talents and her dreams of pursuing a bachelor’s degree.
“It gives me a second chance at higher education,” she said. “I think that’s one of the most important things for anybody’s future. Education is key.”
Nikolas Opolyar-Warren, a second-year student at UCLA studying political science and history and a student assistant with the PEP and Center for Justice, is gaining both work and classroom experience.
“PEP is something I would recommend to everybody,” he said, “not just because of the connections you’re making, but because of what you realize about yourself and what it means to be a student.”
The UCLA College is where the future is being created, one student at a time. As they shape that future in their own unique ways, hear directly from UCLA College students who are writing their own life-changing "Bruin Stories."
