Dream big, counselor tells the college-bound

The blowtorch caught everyone by surprise.

It glowed blue in the darkened classroom at A.M. Miller High School in Fontana as the man holding it asked, in a slightly unhinged voice: "Why am I using a blowtorch, and who the heck am I?"

No one answered.

"I am Danny Ruderman," he proclaimed, "and, yes, I am an alumnus of Fontana High School, your archrival."

Blowtorch. Archrival. Something unsettling was taking place here.

But Ruderman did not flambe any students at Miller that day. Just as in this story, the blowtorch -- which he quickly extinguished -- was nothing more than an attention-getting device.

Ruderman, a private college counselor, was on a peaceful mission, to let these high school seniors know that college isn't a crazy dream, even for students of limited means, and that they should consider widening their horizons beyond the local community college or Cal State campus.

It's kind of a personal thing with him.

Ruderman was a standout student at Fontana High, class of 1990, who dreamed of attending Stanford University. One day, he was summoned by the principal.

"She called me in her office and said, 'Danny, I heard you want to apply to Stanford,' " he told the Miller students. "I said, 'Yeah.' She said, 'Don't.' "

As he recalled it, the principal told him that schools like Stanford didn't admit students from places like Fontana, a fast-growing corner of the Inland Empire where plenty of people earn less than the $33,000 that Stanford now charges in annual tuition. He remembers her saying: "I don't want you to go through that kind of rejection, so why don't you just apply to local schools?"

With the support of his counselor, Eileen Parker, he applied to Stanford anyway and wound up getting accepted off the waiting list.

When his father, a car salesman who never graduated from high school, said the family couldn't afford the tuition, Ruderman applied for financial aid. His parents ended up paying only slightly more than they would have had he attended a public university.

Parker, now a counselor at Miller, says Ruderman's memory is probably a bit off. She doesn't believe the principal (who is no longer at Fontana High) discouraged him from applying to Stanford, but more likely told him to make sure he had backup schools in case he didn't get in.

Still, Ruderman's story has a core of truth. When it comes to applying to college, students in California public schools are often left to their own devices, at least compared with their counterparts at elite private schools.