College Week Offers Opportunities for Help, Exploration

Seniors can get help with the application process as well as on-site admissions

Rebecca Giesecke, Revolution Correspondent

Albemarle High School is hosting a College Week from Nov. 13-17, providing workshops, information sessions, and chances to meet with representatives from a variety of colleges from and around Virginia.

This will be the fourth college week AHS has conducted and is open to all grade levels throughout the week, beginning with a door decorating contest on Monday as a sort of kick-off. During all four lunch periods, teachers and counselors will be ready to answer any questions students may have and will also have candy at the ready.

Tuesday and Wednesday are when the workshops begin. For the first 30 minutes of every period, as well as during CHAT, students will be able to visit the counseling offices to receive guidance and inquire about such things as The Common App and college essays, Naviance, scholarship opportunities, as well as just where to begin the college process. These workshops are not only for seniors, any grade level may sign up through the AHS website for any of the sessions.

A variety of both public and private colleges from Virginia and a few surrounding states will be available to talk to students on Thursday, a few including Mary Washington, Longwood University, UVA-Wise, and Radford University. Fourteen colleges represented will be able to let seniors know immediately if they are accepted into the school, 44 seniors were accepted on-site last year. Interested seniors can see the complete list of schools and sign up for on-site admissions on the counseling department’s website.

A resource fair will also occur on Thursday during CHAT in the breezeway with representatives from organizations such as SAT & ACT, PVCC, the military, Upward Bound, as well as others and peer tutors at tables to provide information.

On Thursday evening starting at 5:00pm in the AHS cafeteria, there will be a Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) session to talk with admission representatives from colleges in and around Virginia such as Virginia State University, North Carolina Wesleyan College, Bluefield College, and others that will run until 6:00pm.

Then from 6:00pm to 7:00pm, a Financial Aid Night will be held for a Q&A about how to pay for college, as well as PVCC representatives for families to help seniors complete the FAFSA. There will be child care and interpreters available for both of these events.

Friday will also hold on-site college admissions from the colleges represented on Thursday for seniors to visit. Seniors can sign up through the website for specific times to talk with the colleges of their choice.

Friday will also hold the “Choose or Lose” event held at PVCC from 9:30 to 2:30 for those interested in going to PVCC. To take this field trip, students must turn in permission forms to Ms. Massey by Wendesday, and while all grades are welcome, there is a limited number of students that can be taken, and seniors will have precedence.

Albemarle started this event four years ago after realizing that a portion of the school’s students were first-generation students who were not able to get the resources and information necessary to research or attend college. Since then, college week has been all about getting the word out to anyone and everyone.

“It is important to expose everyone in grades nine through twelve to the knowledge that college is for everyone,”guidance counselor Chris Lennon said. “If this is something you want, it is achievable.”