A model intervention for academic persistence and motivation of African American and Latino high school students is provided in this article. The authors provide a theoretical and practical description of The Educational Navigation Skills Seminar (TENSS) as a demonstration of an educational persistence intervention. By reviewing the higher education literature four protective factors (e.g., self-concept, alienation, realistic self-appraisal, and help-seeking strategies) were developed into a curriculum of navigation skills. The authors suggest that pre-college programs should provide "affective based" educational navigation skills to prepare African American and Latino high school students, who are seeking to be the first in their families, to attain higher education.