ALBUQUERQUE

Gabriela Dominguez wraps her arms around her cousins Adrian and Angel, encouraging them to study hard so they don't end up on Albuquerque's long list of dropouts.

The boys hug and kiss her back, even though she'll be "on their case" this afternoon at Washington Middle School about homework and grades.

The two 13-year-olds look up to 17-year-old Dominguez, who not only is their cousin but their mentor in ENLACE Los Companeros, a corps of volunteers who tutor and support families and children in seven Albuquerque middle and high schools.

The program started nearly seven years ago in hopes of boosting high school graduation rates in areas where dropout rates historically have been high.

The first ENLACE class of 215 seniors is on track to graduate in May.

Through the work of tutors such as Dominguez, ENLACE has startling results to report: 97 percent of the original group of midschoolers are expected to receive diplomas from Albuquerque, West Mesa and Valley high schools.

That is a phenomenal rate compared with districtwide longitudinal studies that indicate about 50 percent of ninth-graders will graduate from high school.

"We have a special dynamic, a special relationship" with the seniors who started in the program as sixth-graders, said Antonio Gonzales, a former ENLACE mentor who keeps close tabs on the Albuquerque High group. "We've been able to grow together."

Many of the ENLACE seniors will be the first in their families to get a high school diploma and enroll in college.

ENLACE takes its name from Engaging Latino American Communities for Education, a partnership of the University of New Mexico and Albuquerque Public Schools to reduce the dropout rate, improve the graduation rate and get more students into college.

"ENLACE is one of the cheapest and best dropout prevention programs that our state has right now," Washington principal Cynthia Challberg-Hale said.