This year the administration and counselors decided to try something new. The end result being, you guessed it, college week. College week is a way to urge students, ninth graders especially, to start considering post highschool education. College week has brought with it many in school activities, from teachers talking about their college experience, to quest presentations. This article will be giving you the information about college week, hope you enjoy!
College week was organized at our school by Monica Distefeno, 7th grade counselor here at SJHS. When asked what college weeks purpose was, she told us, “College week is a way to encourage students to start thinking about a future, learning ways to receive college credit, and to show that college education is for everyone.” She later elaborated on what college for everyone meant, saying “College is traditionally looked at as a 4 year program… I want to show kids that there are more options, from apprenticeships, to learning certificates. College is learning new skills, something that can qualify you for a job.”
On Monday, teachers were supposed to talk about their college experience. They were supposed to talk about their degrees, tuition, and everything in between. Later in the day at lunch, there was an activity where students signed where they hoped to go to college. The options included BYU, University of Utah, SUU, and more. By the end of first and second lunch, a large majority of the school had signed.
On Tuesday, there was a lesson for the ninth graders in their science class. Mr. Jackson, 9th grade counselor, showed the ninth graders how to navigate Utah Futures. They looked at college and university statistics, including average GPA, in and out of state tuition, and number of undergraduates. When finished, he urged the 9th graders to look around Utah Futures, looking at things like what schools offer what degrees, etc. Chris Davis, 9th grader, said, “I really liked the lesson. It really helped me start thinking about my future.”
On Friday, there was a little presentation in advisory about college. First it showed statistics about how much money people make depending on how many years of out of high school education. After that, there was a little video about a girl who was making a car from scratch, which taught the students about what cool things you can do by learning new talents.
Tuesday through Thursday, there were multiple presentations from multiple different organizations. On Tuesday, an advisor from UVU came and talked about their concurrent enrollment program. Wednesday, the quest presentation was about taking AP classes in high school to give you college credit. Lastly, on Thursday, the quest presentation was about the MATC, Mountainland Applied Technology College, a location where you can take classes to also get college credit/job certification. 9th graders were who it was for, but anyone was allowed to go.
While college week is new, hopefully next year it’ll be just as helpful as it was for 9th graders this year.