I work mainly with seniors making decisions about their post-secondary education. They are so excited, scared, nervous and anxious all rolled into a wide-eyed kid/young adult! Some have already spent time thinking about what they want in a career...for some, this is the first time they have even considered their futures. Some already know where they want to attend 4-year college/2-year community college/trade school. Some get very emotional when they can't figure out what they want to do...or when they do figure it out. Some have just assumed that post-secondary education isn't in their future because of financial reasons, and when they find out that they really CAN pursue their dreams, we both end up in tears!
My Project
The College 101 class has been offered at our school for over 30 years. The purpose of the class is to give seniors the opportunity to explore and research career opportunities; complete college applications, which may include essays or submission of student work; request letters of recommendation to be used for said college apps as well as scholarship applications; make extensive activities lists, showcasing extra-curricular activities, community service, volunteer work and anything else the students have been involved in; write essays that might be included, in full or in part, with scholarship applications; and writing a cover letter that accompanies all of their scholarship applications. During second quarter, the students contract with me for the number of completely completed scholarship applications they will do for their grade for the scholarship project - to receive an "A" they must turn in 20 ready-to-send applications; most do many more. Much of this work is done in class, but this is a very busy, information intensive class. Students will need personal and financial information from parents/guardians, with some needing copies of Federal income tax forms.
Several of our students do not have internet in their homes, and they will have to work on these scholarship applications at home.
Our school has a free/reduced lunch rate of over 60%, so many of our families struggle financially, and internet comes far behind rent and food. That being said, we have a 93.1% graduation rate. The Class of 2020 was awarded $3,040,346.00 in earned scholarships, with 67 students participating, so our students do take their education seriously. Having flash drives available for the students to check out would allow them to download scholarship applications and take them anywhere and work on them. This could make THE difference for some of our students!
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