Paula Silva, at one time a college dropout who barely graduated high school, says her teaching style is based primarily on how she was not taught. She had already been working for five years when she began college, where she says she found some instructors who were the exception to the group of teachers she had known in high school. Silva hopes to be that exception for her students.

An English teacher by trade, Silva is among the few instructors of De Anza College’s First Year Experience program, a year-long commitment first-generation college students make to decrease their chances of dropping out of college. Her teaching focuses on tutoring and mentoring roughly 112 students, the second batch of FYE tutees since the program’s inception last year.

The program revolves around reading, writing and sociology classes, all of which the students attend at the same time as the members of their “cluster,” a group of around 25 students designed to provide a support network within the class. Silva spends the entire year with the students, helping them work through everything from essays to personal issues. Silva and her students become close knit, sharing successes as well as setbacks.

“We’re a family. There’s often family dynamics. When a student struggles, it becomes your struggle,” Silva said.

She was recruited to teach the program by Prtofessor Jean Miller, who passed away shortly after asking Silva to join the program.

“We saw eye to eye on a lot of things,” Silva said. “It’s important to me to feel like the classroom is part of a larger mission to change patterns of failure and to give access to students who haven’t had access to school before.” She believed in the mission of the program, to support students who have a high chance of dropping out of college.

“There’s a huge problem with retention and success at this school,” she said.

Personal and family matters and overcoming them is a large part of Silva’s job. As a result, she said, “We all get a little burnt out. Some of the challenges the students face are too complicated for teachers to [help them].”

Though the extra hours she spends with students individually and the extra meetings she must attend might take their toll, Silva does seem to find the program fulfilling.

“I feel like I have great moments every other day,” she said, “when I really truly sense that my students feel like they belong here … and they’re invested in their education … because they’ve found something in themselves.”

These students face exceptional challenges, but Silva finds it particularly rewarding “when it all comes together and they come through, when they see their own brilliance.”

“Paula is good for bringing that out, for bringing out confidence,” said Patricia Guitron, an FYE coordinator. “People feel comfortable, not afraid to fail; they know she’s not going to get mad.”

“I love [the FYE program],” said Adriana Gonzalez, one of Silva’s tutees. “It helps you understand that what you learned from kindergarten to 12th grade is different from here. It opens your mind. She [Silva] will help you be on top.”