Transcript MAKING COLLEGE BECOME A REALITY:

MAKING COLLEGE
BECOME A REALITY:
How to engage alternative
students in conversations
about their future
Brian Sites, River’s Edge High School (Richland, WA)
ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO
DREAM BIG
• Encourage students to frequently to think
about what they want to do after they
graduate
• Find out which students don’t think going
to college is possible, affordable, or
realistic; and plant the seed early in the
year that they can do it!
BE A DREAM-MAKER
• “When individuals who made it out
of poverty are interviewed, virtually
all cite an individual who made a
significant difference for them”
(Payne, 1996)
• Be a Dream-maker, not a dream-breaker
ERASE THE NEGATIVE SELF-TALK
• Don’t allow their “conflicting
intent” to dominate their
thinking
– I’m not smart enough to go to
college
– College isn’t for me
– I can’t afford to go to college
ADDRESS THEIR FEARS
• Address their fears, but continue to build
them up every opportunity you get
– “Relationships are the key motivators for
learning for students from generational
poverty” (Payne, 1996)
• If you believe in them, they will begin to
believe in themselves!
REANA’S GRADUATION SPEECH:
AN EXAMPLE OF OUR INFLUENCE AS TEACHERS
“…At River’s Edge High School, I have met teachers
who have helped me get through the toughest times of
my junior and senior year… Thanks to River’s Edge High
School, I am going to Columbia Basin College to become
a Registered Nurse…Thanks to these people in my life, I
now know that I am a River’s Edge High School graduate
and I know there is nothing I cannot do, if only I set my
mind to it….” ~R. Watters, June ’07~
*Reana received $6,500 in grants and another $500 in
scholarship money to attend college this year.
STOPPING THE CYCLE
• Get the kids to examine their own
upbringing
• If it has been paycheck to paycheck,
have the conversation about breaking
the cycle of poverty and lack of
education
– Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story
is a great movie that many kids with tough
home lives could relate to
STOPPING THE CYCLE (cont’d)
• One recent grad told us that what
motivated her was that she didn’t want
her kids to have to go through everything
she experienced growing up
– Drugs in the home
– Moving frequently
– Single motherhood (constant struggle)
EDUCATION IS THE KEY
• Kids know that education is the key to opening up
doors in the future
– Some families might try to undermine your efforts
– Understand the students’ frame of reference: too much
education is feared by some parents and/or friends,
because they fear the child or friend might leave them
• As a result, some might use guilt and negativity to work
against what you are trying to do in school
– “People like us don’t go to college”
• Middle-class norms value achievement; low-SES norms value
relationships
MAKE THE DREAM REAL!!
• Get them on a campus
– See if your school would qualify for GEAR UP
or Upward Bound. Try to get included in the
next grant they write
Tell students stories
about your college
experience (that are
appropriate )
Let them know it is an
experience beyond
just education, and
how much fun it can
be!
FROM UNATTAINABLE
TO ATTAINABLE
• “I stood there for a couple of minutes talking with him
(EWU President Arevalo) about how wonderful the
campus is and how much I was thinking about attending
EWU. He shook my hand and said he hoped to see a few
of our faces there soon. As he said that I thought of how
just only a few hours before my dream of attending a big
University like EWU didn't seem attainable. But now that
I have visited EWU, my dream doesn't seem far fetched
and unattainable. As the front of the application for EWU
says, "Start something BIG!’ ”
– REHS senior Emily Kozachenko, reflecting on a campus visit
SHOW ME THE $$$$
The SAT
• Talk about the SAT early
–
–
Prepare students for what to expect
Sign up for questions of the day on
www.collegeboard.com
• If they want to take it as a senior, there is still
time: 12/1/07 & 1/26/08
–
–
Counselors can obtain fee waivers from
http://tinyurl.com/23k65d
Some 4-year schools have open enrollment (e.g.Univ. of Idaho), but the sooner they get scores, the
better
CREATE A PLAN
• Have them create a plan for each month
–
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–
–
Register for SAT by ___________
Apply for admission by ____________
Scholarship due dates _____________
FAFSA (& follow up) _____________
• Incorporate college planning assignments into
your class curriculum, your program, or
culminating project portfolio (see WALA cd)
–
–
–
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Scholarship essays & applications,
Information about grants, work study, and loans
Discovering programs offered at various schools
Have them ask for letters of recommendation early
RECRUITMENT
• Network with college admissions
officers/recruiters
– Find colleges with flexible/holistic admissions
criteria (rigid GPA/SAT minimums work
against many alternative students, despite
the academic turnaround they have made
more recently)
• Find out when college fairs occur in your
area, and get the word out to students
RECRUITMENT (cont’d)
• Invite recruiters to your school (all it takes
is a phone call or e-mail)
– Generates excitement & a feeling among
students that they are actually “wanted” by
colleges (and worthy of their consideration)
APPLYING TO COLLEGE
• Have college applications printed and
ready for students to fill out
– Find out about waivers (many schools waive
the fee if a student has an EFC of $0 after
completing their FAFSA)
• Make students aware of deadlines at least
1 month in advance
APPLYING FOR SCHOLARSHIPS
• Have copies of scholarship applications
accessible to students
• Have a list of scholarships, qualifications,
amounts, and due dates
• Contact local non-profits (Kiwanis,
Rotary, etc.) to see if they might create a
scholarship exclusively for your school’s
students
THE FAFSA
• Send a letter to parents explaining what the
FAFSA is, and why it asks for so much sensitive
information
–
–
Nearly $15 billion/year is spent by the federal
government for student financial aid
Grades have no bearing on qualifying for aid
• Set aside time to fill out the FAFSA with
students (www.fafsa.ed.gov )
–
Have students apply for a PIN several days before
• www.pin.ed.gov
FOLLOWING UP:
PERSISTANCE MATTERS
• Follow-up on initial college
conversations; hold them accountable for
following through on what they say they
want to do
– Don’t do work for them
• Having them do it themselves empowers them
(more ownership & personal investment)
JUMPING THROUGH THE HOOPS
• Prepare them for jumping through the
many hoops of college admission
– Letter of acceptance,
– Financial aid award (& verification of income)
– Entrance testing
– Meeting with a counselor to schedule classes
– Orientation
TIPS FOR 9-11TH GRADERS
• Have younger students look at what
admissions requirements are like at the
schools they are interested in; help them
schedule courses that will meet these
requirements
• If your school has limited offerings, see
what options exist for expanding their
opportunities (Running Start, digital, etc)
RESOURCES
• Build a list of helpful college-planning
and scholarship websites (a few are
listed below):
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http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/startingpoints/index.html
http://www.knowhow2go.org/
http://www.solutionsforourfuture.org
http://www.ed.gov/students/prep/college/edpicks.jhtml
http://www.collegeplan.org/
http://www.FederalStudentAid.ed.gov/video
http://studentaid.ed.gov
SAT/ACT & FAFSA RESOURCES
• SAT: www.collegeboard.com
• ACT: www.actstudent.org
• FAFSA: www.fafsa.ed.gov
• www.fsa4counselors.ed.gov
– information for counselors, mentors/teachers.
– Resources include tips on answering questions,
how to organize a FAFSA event, financial aid
wizard/calculator, and much more
THE EFFECT OF OUR
EFFORTS AT REHS
• 3 YEARS AGO: 2 GRADUATES ATTENDED
COLLEGE THE FOLLOWING YEAR
• 2 YEARS AGO: 5 GRADUATES
• CLASS OF ’07: 17/34 GRADS CURRENTLY
ATTENDING POSTSECONDARY
– 7 MORE ARE ENROLLED TO ATTEND
STARTING WINTER ’08 (OVER 70%)
BACK TO SLIDE ONE….
• ENCOURAGE, ENCOURAGE, ENCOURAGE!!
• I tell my students:
You can't achieve what
you don't believe!!
*I haven’t trademarked this saying yet, so use it while you still can 
Works referenced
• http://homepages.wmich.edu/~ljohnson/Payne.pdf
• http://www.bls.gov/emp/emped05.pdf
• http://www.nasfaa.org/publications/2007/08budgetproposal020607.html
• Reana Watters, REHS graduation speech, June 2007
• Emily Kozachenko, EWU Trip essay, November 2007
If you would like to contact me, my information is listed below:
[email protected]
River’s Edge High School (Richland, WA)
(509) 967-6455