By Shae Mitchell and Elizabeth Sanchez
Entering high school not a lot of kids are thinking about college. They’re still getting use to the idea of being a freshman.
Lincoln High Counselors have put together a club that meets every Tuesdays to help those students who need help with college, such as scholarships, college trips, and to sign up or fill out applications. It is a great opportunity for juniors, and especially seniors.
The club is called College Club which meets every Tuesday in the computer labs depending on how many students attend.
A student can never be sure of what college they even want to attend. Most haven’t even visited a campus or ever seen one before. College Club puts together college trips for juniors and seniors so that students can get the full experience of college.
“With all five counselors we can reach a lot of kids and help a lot of kids get into college, help them get money for college, and so they can have the confidence to go to college,” counselor Mary Shuster Graff said.”
In the fall of 2014, Lincoln High received a college access grant from EducationQuest. This grant is valued at $20,000 each year for four years. The purpose of this grant is to provide support and opportunities for students to have access to college and resources for applying to college who might otherwise not have those opportunities.
“The College field trips allow students to visit many of Nebraska’s most popular colleges and universities,” Interventionist Judy Tuttle said. “When students go on those college visits they typically will get a tour of the campus, listen to admissions advisors talk about their campus and what makes their campus unique. The students will also have lunch on campus and often have the opportunity to talk with students that are currently enrolled in that school.”
We talked to some of the students that attend this club and they all went there for different reasons. Some knew that they wanted to study, they just didn’t know how they were going to pay for it. Some didn’t have any idea of where they wanted to go, but with College Club it has helped them.
“Going on college visits are really important, because you get to try out the atmosphere of the campus before you actually commit to going somewhere,” senior Tiauna Lewis said. “It helps to learn what type of environment you’re looking for and whether or not it’s big or small.”
Most students going on visits like to pay attention to the students walking around campus and maybe even ask them how they like it.
“The other day we went to some college visits and that’s when I decided to go too Doane,” senior Marcelles Cherry said.“By just going to Doane, for the college visit I got $1,000 off my tuition!”
Recently there have been a lot of college trips that the seniors and juniors attended such as UNL, SCC, UNO, Wayne state, and Peru. There are a lot more trips coming up. You have to at least be a junior or a senior to attend College Club and also attend one of the college trips. Many students have benefited from attending College Club as over 88 students have attended at least one College Club meeting and gone on a College trip. Students who attend College Club can receive a college T-shirt, and if you were to wear that on Tuesdays to school you can help advertise that College Club is happening and receive several perks from the school.
If you are scared or have questions about college, College Club might be for you. It seems to be helping many students with their college plans. They meet in room 215 at 2:15 p.m. every Tuesday. For more information, stop into the counseling center any time.
