There’s no place like the College Career Center: educational resources go unused
Out of the 2,526 students on campus, thirty-five students attended the practice PSAT, SAT or ACT on Sept. 1, hosted by the College Career Center. The percentage of the students who took part barely exceeded one percent of the entire student population.
Despite major budget cuts, the CCC, sponsored by the Peninsula Education Foundation, continues to help direct students toward college. It would make sense for students to take advantage of the CCC’s resources, which include not only several practice tests throughout the year, but also consist of college representative visits, “lunch and learn” sessions, Naviance workshops, volunteer opportunities, College Nite and the RACC Mini-College Fair; these events give students plenty of engaging opportunities to prepare for the college experience.
CCC Director Terri Lewallen states that, unlike other schools, Peninsula is fortunate enough to have such “wonderful” programs that influence and inform students. She believes that the CCC should be utilized more often by students of all grade levels, not just seniors, the common misconception.
“My favorite word is ‘possibilities’,” Lewallen said. “That, to me, is the whole purpose of the College Career Center, because you’re entering the four years that are going to be the next steps of your life.”
Considering the amount of effort put into these programs and activities, they should receive more attention. For instance, representatives from colleges around the nation often travel from out of state in order to tour Southern Calif. schools. With this level of work put into making these visits as successful as possible, small student turnouts are extremely disappointing. There are cases, albeit rare, when not a single student attends. Lewallen then must greet the representative herself and receive pertinent information for future references.
Josh Beckel, a Juniata College representative, states that Peninsula is one of the only public schools he visits that has such a professionally equipped college center. On a different note, Beckel does feel “disappointed” when there are no students present at these visits. He also emphasized the importance of using the CCC resources in order to facilitate the transition to college.
“Meeting the representative is so important,” Beckel said, “At small schools, we’re the people who make acceptance decisions so it is good to impress us.”
Similarly, senior Justin Choe, after attending the representative visit for Northwestern University, stated that it was “a really useful way to learn about prospective colleges.”
College visits are the personal responsibility of students to attend, and they help students learn about potential colleges that they may apply to.
Along with these visits, practice tests are also useful tools that Pen High students are fortunate to have.
A large number of students on campus take separate, private classes to study for standardized tests. There are others who pay for online tutoring. It is unfortunate that, right under their proverbial noses, similar programs exist, hosted right on our campus for everyone to utilize.
“No matter what a student’s academic standards are, I want them to know we are here,” Lewallen stated. “We have such great resources, so feel welcome to come in.”
