“As teachers, we love our seniors, we want to write them letters, and we want to help them on their path to college,” said Melissa Jimenez, a Berkeley International High School (BIHS) English teacher and BIHS co-leader alongside Rebecca Villagran. “We also really care that all of our students are able to be supported on that process, … (so) we need to teach kids how to apply for letters of rec,” Jimenez said.
Rec Week is a week where BIHS seniors are given the opportunity to ask their teachers for letters of recommendation for their college applications. BIHS started implementing the process of Rec Week, in the 2023-24 school year. There hasn’t been any negative feedback so far, according to Jimenez. Rec Week aims to organize the college application process, and make it smoother for BIHS seniors.
“Some kids know how (to apply for letters of rec) or they may have access to private college counselors who are helping them with that process, (but) what about everyone else?” Jimenez said, “We have our amazing counselors here at Berkeley High (School) who do a great job with (helping), but we just wanted to coordinate, get everybody on the same page, to help support kids and make sure that it’s a fair and easily accessible process for everyone.”
At the end of the school year in 2024, the BIHS staff leadership team sent an email to all BIHS students asking them to wait until the designated week to begin asking teachers for letters of recommendation. Students in other small schools like Academic Choice were able to ask for their letters of recommendation at the end of junior year.
At the beginning of September, counselors came into BIHS classrooms and explained in more depth what letters of recommendation are and the etiquette around asking for them. “I have not only noticed students being more proactive and timely with their letter of rec requesting, but more confident, knowledgeable, respectful, and grateful,” Addison Fonseca, a BIHS counselor, said.
BIHS students are given a Google document with a step-by-step process on how to apply for letters of recommendation. The doc details when Rec Week is, how to set up a meeting to ask teachers in person, as well as a reminder to thank the recommenders and share plans for after high school after receiving college decisions.
Prior to Rec Week, students fill out a Google form stating whether or not they will need a letter. The form asks for the teachers students want to write their letters as well as their application deadlines and whether or not they will need a letter from their counselor.
Rec Week and the accompanying Google form also fixes another problem for counselors. “A problem we’ve had in the past is students just assuming that their counselors are going to write them a letter, but the counselors don’t actually know that (they) need a letter until (students) add them on the Common App. We had so many students that were doing this the night before the application (was due), the counselors just aren’t able to write that many letters (in such a short time),” Jimenez said.
“My sophomore year, one of my teachers was primarily a senior teacher. She was so busy all the time with her letters. Last year I was talking to one of my teachers, and he told us that two years ago he wrote 68 letters in one year. (Teachers) definitely talked about how they were having a really hard time getting (letters) done and they weren’t really getting paid for it,” Maya Merhige, a senior in BIHS, said. The first round of Rec Week began on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. During this week, students were able to ask their teachers and counselors for letters of rec in person. The next round of Rec Week will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024.