Kicking Off TEEP’s Road Map to College
Posted by Sarah Evans on Mon, May 17, 2010
Today’s post comes from TEEP Director Paul Bowen. It is the first in a series that will follow TEEP students along their “Road Map to College”.
First, a little background on the “Road Map”: For the past four years, TEEP has offered college prep assistance to our high school juniors and seniors. However, it became apparent that we needed to start this work earlier than junior year. In fall of 2009, we began work on a comprehensive, four-year program: our “Road Map to College.” This summer, each of our high school students will receive a binder of materials that lays out each step they need to take throughout their four years of high school in order to be ready to apply to a full range of excellent colleges. Many thanks to TEEP staff member Chris Parris and volunteer Shane Lessard, who have been instrumental in developing the “Road Map to College.”The Kickoff
On Monday, April 26, we launched the first event in our Road Map to College for our high school freshmen and sophomores. In line with this four-year program, rather than waiting until the junior or senior year for college visits, we took our freshmen and sophomores on an early awareness trip to compare and contrast two very different schools.
Our first stop was Bridgewater State College, in Bridgewater, Mass., a large public college that is fairly inexpensive and not very selective in admissions. Our students were able to speak at length with a Bridgewater State student (unaffiliated with the school’s admissions office) and came away with a candid picture of what the school is like and what the academic options are.
We then visited Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., where we met up with senior Laura M. Gonzalez, one of our original TEEP graduates from 11 years ago! Laura is passionate about Wheaton and talked about the difference that a small liberal arts college has made for her, and how it differs in particular from larger colleges and universities. She then took us to lunch in the dining hall, which we really enjoyed. We finished our day at Wheaton with a student-led tour that provided an excellent view of the school from another student’s perspective.
Beginning the Conversation
After visiting both schools, we began a conversation with our students about what they are looking for in a college and the differences among the various types of colleges. The contrasts were readily apparent. Natalia, a TEEP freshman, thought that "Bridgewater felt like a big city." Alex, a TEEP sophomore, said, "I loved the liberal arts emphasis of Wheaton." We also talked about why some colleges are much more selective in admissions than others and what they need to start to do now in order to be ready to apply to selective colleges. Bethel, a TEEP freshman, summed up the trip this way: “I liked the fact that we got an opportunity to see the difference between the two colleges, because it showed me what I need to accomplish in HS in order to go to the college of my choice.”
This trip was the beginning of a larger, more comprehensive conversation with our students that will continue and expand throughout the coming years. Our hope is that this blog will also start an ongoing conversation.