MATC’s unique collaboration with Tenor High School endures after 20 years
Tenor building where a lot of dual-enrollment students come from
Lupita Rodriguez grew up on Milwaukee’s South Side, the oldest of three children to parents from Mexico. Her family struggled to make ends meet. Higher education seemed improbable, if not impossible to her. “Kids like me didn’t go to college,” she said. But in the fall of 2005, Rodriguez enrolled at Tenor High School, a brand new charter school with a dual enrollment concept: Students take classes at Tenor for three years and then attend MATC for their final year, exposing them to college and preparing them for success. Students would earn a diploma from Tenor and a certificate or a technical diploma from MATC. They then could return to MATC to get an associate degree or earn credits to transfer to a four-year university. Rodriguez signed up. “We all understood this was a trial run,” she said. For her, everything worked. She was one of 18 students in Tenor’s first graduating class in 2008, and her free year of college at MATC laid the foundation for her future success.
She received associate degrees in Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts from MATC by the time she was 22, then returned to the college in 2017 to take prerequisite courses before earning a bachelor’s degree in special education and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Today, Rodriguez works as a special education teacher at Milwaukee Public Schools’ Morgandale Elementary School. “I had a great experience at Tenor and MATC. It gave me a lot of confidence,” she said. “They told me I could go to college, get a degree and become a better person in the community. And that’s what happened.” Twenty years later, the Tenor High School-MATC partnership is still going strong. The program has produced hundreds of graduates, many of whom have returned to MATC to earn degrees and start careers. Others have transferred to four-year universities. The class of 2025 received more than $1.4 million in scholarships.
Two decades of service
Today, 620 students are enrolled at Tenor’s two campuses. The current senior class has 131 students. Jodi Weber has been there since the beginning. She started as a principal at Tenor and is now the chief executive officer of Seeds of Health, the community-based organization that operates the high school. The agency also operates Seeds of Health Elementary School along with Veritas and Grandview high schools. “This idea has exceeded our expectations,” said Weber, a vocal, visible and energetic champion of Tenor. “It started small but has really blossomed. The model works. “The magic is the kids and the opportunities we get to help them find their own path and become productive community members,” Weber added. “We help open the door to college for many students who might not otherwise consider education beyond high school.” Last October, Tenor held a 20th anniversary celebration. The event attracted educators, city officials, alumni and local historians.
“We’re a proud partner of Tenor,” said MATC President Dr. Anthony Cruz, who attended the event. “The program gives Tenor students the opportunity to get a jump start on earning MATC college credits while they are still in high school. We look forward to strengthening and growing our partnership in the years to come.” “They get to find out what they want to do on their own, but we make sure they have some guidance,” Schmidt said. “We’re always there to help them with the next steps.” Joshua Valdivia is a senior at the Journal Square campus who is taking classes in MATC’s Phlebotomy program. He got interested in healthcare after taking an anatomy class at Tenor as a junior. MATC was a challenge to get around at first, but Valdivia quickly found his voice and began asking for help when he needed it, he said. After graduating, Valdivia plans to work as a phlebotomist and then return to school and earn a degree as a surgical technologist. “I chose Tenor because this is a great opportunity,” Valdivia said. “There will always be jobs in healthcare.”
“We help open the door to college for many students who might not otherwise consider education beyond high school.”
A supportive culture
Charmin McGlaston, a counselor at Cathedral Square, works with about 70 students, helping them choose their courses, manage their time and plot their futures. “I always tell them to have a backup plan,” said McGlaston, who has worked at Tenor for five years. “And then a plan C and even a plan D after that. I feel like I am meant to be here to assist students as they begin their next chapter. This partnership is a great opportunity to help students get a jump start on that chapter.”
A counselor at Tenor for 17 years, Carol Pook helps seniors at Journal Square select courses, connect with scholarship opportunities, prepare financial aid forms and secure recommendation letters. Some students know exactly what they want to do, while others have no idea what they want. “I urge them to try it out and see if it fits,” Pook said. “Figure out what you like. If you don’t fall in love with it, at the very least, you’re learning how to go to college. “The opportunities our students find at MATC are just amazing,” Pook added. “The college has so many programs, and it’s wonderful that our students are allowed to take classes shoulder to shoulder with adult students.”
Tenor alumna Lupita Rodriguez still remembers the first time she stepped into a college classroom. “At first it was scary,” she said. “I was 17 and taking college-level courses with people way older than me. But I was never discouraged. I was encouraged. The people in my classes were from all backgrounds, and I figured if they could do this, I could do this.” Rodriguez also met her future husband, Jose, at Tenor. After graduation, he joined the Army and served a tour in Afghanistan. He later earned a bachelor’s degree at Concordia University and now works as a project manager. The couple has three children, including a 13-year-old daughter about to complete eighth grade. “We’re still thinking about high schools. Tenor is pretty far away from our house, so I don’t know if she will follow us there,” Rodriguez said. “I’m just happy we can show our children what we were able to do. My husband and I came from low-income families and were first-generation college students. We can show them what is possible with higher education.”
Tenor students attend classes at one of two campuses: Cathedral Square on Jackson Street and Journal Square on Vel R. Phillips Avenue. The Cathedral Square campus includes a gymnasium and a coffee bar run by students. Launched in 2023, the coffee bar evolved from a folding table where students served coffee from a French press to a custom-built kitchen space where they learn to make specialty drinks and run a business. The Journal Square campus opened in November 2021 in a remodeled building that once housed the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper operations. A third floor of classrooms is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2026 and a fourth floor by the fall of 2027. That project will include a culinary career lab, a real-life entrepreneurial venture where students will get hands-on instruction in culinary skills, food science, nutrition, food safety and sanitation, budgeting, marketing, and logistics. By the 2028-29 school year, Journal Square is expected to serve 500 students and the two campuses a combined 775 students. “Everything we do here is getting students ready for MATC,” said Theresa Yurk, principal at Journal Square. “The college is affordable, the students know how to navigate the campus and they know how to ‘do college.’”
Finding their career paths
Brissia Esqueda is a senior at the Cathedral Square campus. Her older sister attended Tenor and her parents liked the program, so she applied. She is taking courses in MATC’s Early Childhood Education program. After earning her degree, she plans to continue her education at either UWM or the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then work as a school counselor. “The staff at Tenor helped me see how important education can be,” Esqueda said. “They have shown me how you can create bonds and memories with students.” Jeremy Gonzalez transferred to Tenor in 2024 from St. Augustine Preparatory Academy. He is also studying early childhood development at MATC. “This is a free year to explore what I want to do,” he said. As seniors, students check in at their high school campuses once a week, said Brenda Jeske Schmidt, principal at Cathedral Square.
