Showing posts with label College Program. Show all posts
Showing posts with label College Program. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

College Program Guest Blogger: Stephanie

I have been working with the college zone within the last couple of months and it has been awesome. I enjoy talking with the students as well as their mentors and I am happy to be one of the individuals who assists student in their colege search. Many of these students have a lot of potential, ideas, and dreams. They want a life and they want success. Listening to these students talk about how they want to go to college to study music, become a mortician, do animation, having their own business and so many other careers just brings a smile to my face :) This shows that if you just sit down and ask questions they will be answered. Tutors and students who are here at Cabrini Connections and have any questions or would like assistance in finding information about a college please do not hesitate to ask. I am available on Wednesday nights along with Carla who is the wednesday night college coordinator and I am also available on Thursday nights as well and we will be more than happy to help you out.

College is not only about getting your education so that you can better you life in the long run it is about enjoying the experience while you have it. Choose something that you would be willing to do for the rest of your life because wouldn't you want a job that you are going to enjoy suppose to not enjoying? Imagine waking up everyday knowing you have to go to work and you know that you hate every minute of your job...not very fun!!! Yes we all want a job that is going to pay well so we can enjoy the life that we have. I know the ladies would love some extra money to go shopping and every guy could enjoy some extra cash to go to a sporting event. you see I don't think that the money we make should always be about the bills. I mean yes the bills are the first thing I will dish out money to simply because they need to be paid, but I would also like to spend my money in other ways like a nice vacation. You choose your life, the career that you want and I will be happy to help out and share my ideas as well as listen to yours.

--Stephanie

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

College Program: What is it like to attend a large, public university?

The first post in my series on student experiences at different types of institutions of higher education describes the experiences of one college graduate at a large, public university.

Since graduation, this graduate featured has worked in a variety of different occupations and organizations. He currently works as a professional journalist and in non-profit communications management. This graduate experienced family challenges during his undergraduate experience, but overcame them to attain his degree in English and later, a graduate degree in journalism. I admire this graduate's ability to overcome personal challenges and I attribute it to his positive attitude and dedication to what truly matters to him. The interview follows.


What opportunities did you find at your type institution of higher learning?

The greatest opportunity, in my opinion, is the large breadth of programs available and the investment within those programs. During my tenure at my school, it embarked upon a large construction campaign that not only provided new buildings for most of the various colleges, but for some of those colleges, additional teachers and educational resources were hired or acquired to increase the value of the overall education to the student.

Within my area of study, I was able to take time to explore other programs to satisfy my own curiosity and to enrich my overall education. Certain programs received larger support, namely the business, engineering, law and medicine colleges that my school was especially renowned for, and especially proud of. The liberal arts programs did receive a far amount of attention, but being that all a philosophy or English program mostly needs is good teachers and a draft-free room, the requirements there were smaller and mostly addressed.


What challenges did you find at your type university?


Because the university was in a constant state of flux due to a several-billion dollar construction campaign, I remember feeling ungrounded to the school. Classes would move from one building to another mid-term because of the construction. Several times, a class would congregate on the first day of term only to find that we were in the wrong building -- effective administration-student communication was not a strong suit of the school at that time. Because the university was primarily a commuter school, the campus was less a center of student life outside of class than some other schools. In my last year or two of school, this was rectified to a certain extent by a greater depth of campus outreach and programming, but for my first couple of years, I remember feeling as if school was just a place that I went to a couple of hours a day -- my real life existed elsewhere.

Because of the formidable size of my school, I was one of many. Many of my intro-level classes were in gargantuan lecture halls. However, many of these classes held "lab" sessions weekly in which graduate teaching assistants would engage with us one-on-one, or at least in small groups. Some of my favorite classes ever were in these formats.

I also experienced a fair number of challenges as a student. Because of events within my life (my parents announced their intent to divorce on my first day of college), I started losing touch with my studies during my freshman and sophomore year. My attendance dropped, my grades suffered, and a few black marks made their way onto my transcript. Some other schools would have administration check-in on a student like me who would be classified as a problem, or at-risk, but I received nothing. Certainly, I never actively pursued such help, but one of the reasons why students run into problems is that they often lack an awareness of their at-risk academic behavior until it's too late. Luckily, I came around and eventually became a Dean's List student, but for a short, bleak period, I was a hair's width away from dropping out, at least temporarily.


What advice would you give to students who are interested in attending this type of institution? What kinds of students would fit in the best in that type of environment?


Pay attention, and expect few safety nets if your academic progress ever falters. There's room in a school this size for a student who relishes big classes, or small, intimate learning. Some effort on the part of the student to engage with the school beyond the purely academic aspect is required, but if taken, is rewarding. Perhaps the most helpful tip is to find your niche. Clubs, intramural teams, societies all exist for all manner of interest and by taking an active part in one of these groups, your school social network extends beyond that of the computer. Becoming friends within the people of your particular academic program is important, but so is interacting with people throughout the entire school itself.

If quiet, assert yourself and explore your interests. In schools as large as the one I went to, opportunities abound to enrich your own academic interests in addition to your personal interests.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

College Program: Interview with a First Generation Latina College Graduate

The first interview in my series on minority experiences in college prep and as college students kicks off with an interview with a first generation Latina college graduate.

This college graduate grew up with her mother, an immigrant from a Latin American country, and her siblings. She was the first in her family to attend an institution of higher learning an accomplished much during her tenure as a college student. This young woman achieved excellent grades as a high school and college student, attained fluency of a foreign language during a one year study abroad program, and will attend law school in the fall. Notably, this young woman achieved all this even though she had to financially support herself and her mother almost entirely while in college. The interview follows below.

Question: What were your assets preparing for and going into college as a first generation Latina student?

Response: I was fortunate enough to have a lot of encouragement from my mom and my teachers. I never really questioned if college was perhaps for me or not - it was always something I knew I'd do even though my parents and older brothers and sisters didn't go to college. I think my positive attitude and my mothers encouragement helped me. I was also very involved in high school and I believe that helped my university see potential in addition to just minority status.

Question: What challenges did you face as a first generation Latina, either in your college prep process or as a college student?

Response: I think the biggest challenge I faced as a first generation Latina to attend college was my mother's unfamiliarity with the system. She couldn't help me and although you can get help at school, it's still hard to never have anyone to give you advice or warn you about how college might be. Subsequently, one has to work a lot harder to gather that type of information. I think it added stress for me. I think I would have liked my mother to talk to me about college. That never happened.

On that same note, I have a unique situation because I had to live at home, so that I could use my financial aid to pay for our mortgage since my mother was unemployed. Perhaps similar things can happen to first generation minorities who go to college and are not completely detached from worries back home. That's definitely detrimental to performance and even sociability. That was another big challenge for me.

Question: What advice would you give to other Latino students preparing to go to college?

Response: I would suggest that the summer before senior year of high school, or even the one after, prospective students should look for mentors, read about college life, etc., so that they can make the most of it. I would also suggest that they encourage their parents to be involved in the process. Sometimes parents seem to feel detached and think they cannot contribute. However, a mere presence or display of interest and encouragement can make a great difference.

And learn a foreign language! I'd suggest that. College is still a great time to start.

***************

Thank you to our interviewee. If I ever need a trilingual lawyer, you will be the first person I call!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

College Program: Our Mission


I am proud to announce that the College Program now has a mission statement. The mission statement will guide us in planning future programming and a serve as the starting point for program evaluation.

The mission statement reads, “to transform youth from economically and educationally disadvantaged neighborhoods into college bound students through providing structured support, resources, and training.”

Although mission statements are only a sentence long, they pack a punch. Mission statements attempt to encapsulate an organization’s broad goals and briefly state how an organization will get there. They are not an operating or strategic plan, which lay out in detail an organization’s specific goals, performance metrics, procedures, and strategies. In that sense, mission statements tell you everything that an organization does while telling you almost nothing about how the organization operates.

Allow me to explain some of the details behind our mission, so that if you are a tutor/mentor with our program or another program, you can see what the mission statement means on the ground. The first that I did in developing this statement was refer to Cabrini Connection’s mission statement, which is to, “Engage workplace adults in structured activities that make a life-changing difference for youth living in economically and educationally disadvantaged neighborhoods.” I borrowed language from the larger organization’s mission because the College Program is one of the “structured activities” offered by Cabrini Connections. I also incorporated the adjective “structured” into our mission so that we create programming in line with the broader organization’s procedures and values. A part of our structure includes weekly meetings, appointment scheduling, regular team meetings, and planned intake sessions and assignment sheets. Additionally, I borrowed the phrase “youth… from economically and educationally disadvantaged neighborhoods” from their mission statement to ensure that we ultimately serve the same population. The College Program serves all students at Cabrini Connections, so I equated our population with that of the organization.

Finally, I want to note my use of the word “transform” and the phrase “college bound students.” Transforming another human being is a challenge. It is a stronger than saying something like “to assist youth from economically and educationally disadvantaged neighborhoods in becoming college bound students.” As tutors/mentors we are literally assisting students, but more importantly we are a layer of support in the process of transforming a child who might have frame of reference about higher education into a student who is curious and excited about going to college. College bound students are the end goal for of providing "support, resources, and training." We do not define “college bound” students solely as students who have received college acceptance letters or students who have enrolled at a community college. College bound students are students of any grade who ask questions, go on college trips, study for the ACT, research colleges, and get excited about March Madness.

In our pilot year as a separate curriculum, we hope to develop a strategic plan that will turn our goals into measurable outcomes, create strategies and procedures to attain those outcomes, and lay out a criteria for evaluating our work. We will report back on these plans as developments arise and incorporate the mission statement into our planning.

For now, our new mission statement will allow the College Program to move purposefully throughout the remainder of the school year.

Monday, March 16, 2009

College Program: Working with First Generation College Students

Working with potential first generation college students poses a unique set of challenges for tutors and mentors in prepping their students to go college. The tutor/mentor might be the only adult in the student’s life that has attended college or some form of higher education. If the student has not received messages about college or higher education at school or through other enrichment programs, the student might have a limited idea about college, its purpose and the overall preparation process. If you face this challenge, you may wonder how to prepare a college student starting at square one.

Here are some strategies I have either implemented or seen others implement in working with potential first generation college students in the college prep process.
  • If you work with your student at a tutoring/mentoring program, do not underestimate the resources available to you through the organization. Connect with other mentors and the program staff and ask them about how they worked on college prep with their students. If you meet other tutors at square one, brainstorm, research and keep networking.
  • Start by talking about your own experience in higher education. Talk about your own education experience staring from what you did in high school to prepare for college and what your experience in higher education was like. Prepare a set of questions in case your student does not have any questions about your experience. Sample questions include: Did you live at home, in a dorm? What was your major? What were you involved in on campus? Was your college small, medium or large? How was attending college important to what you do now?
  • Use a pop culture reference. When asked, some students will open up about things they have seen in movies or television. I learned this strategy in college when I did some rape and sexual assault education at some high schools in Chicago. Although bringing up the topic of rape and sexual assault often made students feel shy or think that the topic did not pertain to their lives, I found that students better connected with the topic when I would ask, “has anyone seen Law & Order: Special Victims Unit?” Connecting the topic to media the students consume every day made them think about how the topic fit into the real world. Fortunately, college prep is a less dramatic topic and less likely to induce a sudden case of shyness. If you use this method, you can start with, “what have you seen or heard about college on TV or in movies?” Make sure you only address “appropriate” pop culture references about college. You want to stress the academic and personal development aspect of college.
  • Ask about the student’s interests and favorite school subjects. This topic provides an excellent segue into talking about majors and potential careers.
  • Go for a college visit. Visit institutions of higher education in the area and if you can, sit in on a class. College visits help students envision themselves as a college student. Some institutions have offices that work with at-risk youth. If you can find a university with such an office, take your student for a visit and make sure you make your student aware that these resources exist on college campuses.
  • Engage the parents. Parents are your best allies for preparing your student for college. Talk to them about your college prep goals and feel out the parent’s educational goals for their child. Do not assume anything about the parent’s educational or personal background. Some parents might not have an education past elementary school and some parents might have a college degree or some other training. Some parents might be refugees or immigrants with educational backgrounds ranging from no formal training to post-graduate work. Other parents may have served time in prison. Some parents might not speak English well enough to have a conversation with you. Furthermore, depending on cultural and individual preferences, some parents might have a hard time accepting their child might go to college and live away from home and some parents might want their child to become a world traveler. Be sensitive to these concerns and go in with an open mind.
  • Start each session with a practice ACT or SAT exam question. Many of these sample questions are available for free online. A weekly practice question can introduce your student to the types of questions they will encounter on the exam.
  • Encourage your student to attend a summer enrichment program. If you live in Chicago, you should check out a Chicago Public Schools program called Summer Quest, which sends CPS high school students to summer educational and leadership programs, including sessions at colleges. In addition to the educational benefits, these types of programs help students and families mentally prepare for the idea of having the student attend college.

I will post more suggestions as I think of them. If you have suggestions please contact me (Carla [at] u [dot] northwestern [dot] edu).

Thursday, March 12, 2009

College Program: ACT Study Group

I am proud to announce the kick off of the College Program’s ACT study group next Thursday at 5 pm at Cabrini Connections. We are fortunate to have a volunteer willing to lead the ACT study group and serve as our on-site math/science/reading/writing guru for juniors interested in getting additional tutoring and practice for the ACT. If you are a tutor at Cabrini Connections and your student is interested in prepping for the ACT (regardless of their grade), please encourage them to come to the Thursday ACT study group sessions. The group is tentatively scheduled to meet for six weeks (from March 19th to April 23rd).

Midwestern colleges and universities prefer evaluating students’ ACT scores as a part of their admissions process in the (West coast and East coast schools prefer the SAT), but we hope that students will gain skills from working with the group that will help them in all standardized testing they will encounter in the next few years. We also hope that the group will learn how to study in teams and encourage each other to keep studying for the big test.

Thanks to the generous support of Cabrini Connections, the College Zone has two ACT test prep books full of sample exams and study tips at our students’ disposal. Additionally, do not forget to search for the various practice exams and study skills available for free online. I recommend the ACT’s official website for students seeking knowledge about the test and practice materials (www.act.org).

Whether or not you are a tutor/mentor at Cabrini Connections, remember to reinforce the importance of ACT or SAT test prep to your student’s college prep process. If you feel you cannot provide your student adequate support in preparing for the test, form a group with other students and tutors to support and motivate your student and bridge the resource gap. If you volunteer through a community organization, reach out to other volunteers (preferably a math whiz and someone lexically inclined) to pool together your talent and get your students ready to do their best on test day.

--Carla

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

College Program: Creating Life Long Learners

In tonight’s college mentoring sessions, one of our tutor’s comments stood out to me and reinforced my vision of the college program: creating life-long learners. While doing a intake session with one of our student/tutor pairs tonight, I asked the tutor to recount the story of her journey in higher education. This tutor told us all about the exams she had to take to attain her dream of becoming an attorney. This tutor told us that every time she took an important academic test, she thought that she was done with tests for the rest of her life. After getting through the SAT, LSAT and Bar exam, this tutor realized that she would never be done with taking tests. In fact, she has to continue earning continuing legal education credits (CLE’s) to maintain her licensing. After listening to her story, I reflected on how her realization that she would never stop taking tests holds true for all of the academic challenges we encounter in our lives. Whether we face tests at school, at work or in our personal lies, we never stop learning.

As college tutors we help students look at the long-term picture of what they want their lives to look like and in imagining this long-term picture we should stress the importance of seeking out knowledge and applying it to their daily life. At Cabrini Connections, we work with at-risk youth, and these students often lack resources critical to attaining a higher education and jobs. However, the College Program strives to create resourceful students. We want our students to know that if there is a question related to their academic or professional development that they cannot answer or a resource they lack, they can find someone out there that knows the answer and someone who can help the student obtain necessary resources. We encourage students to ask questions, find information, consider their options, try out a plan and evaluate how it works for them. This strategy does not just work for high school students applying to college. It is invaluable for students and professionals over the course of their lifetime.

Ultimately, the College Program teaches our students a process. We cannot provide a road map to success that will apply to every student. However, we can show them that planning for the future is a process of asking questions, researching the possibilities, trying out different paths and evaluating the outcomes. Empowering your student to become life-long learner can help them navigate the difficult process of picking a college and finding out “what they want to be when they grow up.”

Encourage your students to always keep learning. When you keep learning, you keep growing.

--Carla

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

College Program: It’s College and Career Month!

This March is an exciting time at Cabrini Connections: College and Career Month. This month we’ll be focusing on preparing for college and careers and today’s post will focus on developing your student’s professional skills.

As tutors and mentors we often focus on the academic and personal side of the relationship with our students, but it is also important to focus on your student’s professional development. At-risk youth especially need their tutors to introduce them to the values and norms of the professional world. As a supportive adult in your student’s life you can play a critical role in teaching your student skills that will pay off over the course of your student’s working life.

It is often hard to imagine a student as a professional. After all, as adults we look at our students and want them to enjoy being young. However, the teenage years are perfect for planting the seeds of professionalism in your student and for beginning to cultivate a mature and responsible young adult.

Students require basic training in professional skills that we often take for granted at work: punctuality, good posture, appropriate dress and speech, and organization, just to name a few. Teaching students to take personal responsibility, particularly through punctuality and good organization skills are often (hopefully) skills that your student receives some training in at their school. The finer points of professional, knowing how to dress and speak, are often harder to teach a student. These skills are nevertheless important in helping your student prepare for future job and college interviews and for interacting in a professional environment.

A good way to introduce a high school aged student to professionalism is through a practice mock interview and job shadowing. Help your student prepare a resume, one that highlights their academic achievements, extracurricular activities and an work or volunteer experience they might have and give your student a mock interview for college admissions or job. This exercise will help a student understand the functions and importance of a resume and interviews. Job shadowing can demonstrate the importance of etiquette and professional dress at work. If you have a student shadow you at work, ask them to take notes and report back to you on their observations. Some questions for observations on professionalism can include:

  • How do the employees of this workplace speak to each other?
  • How do the employees of this workplace dress? Make sure you explain the purpose of your dress code to your student and note that workplace dress codes vary. Some workplaces require business professional or business casual dress while others require a uniform or permit casual dress
  • When do employees take breaks from work?
  • How do employees share resources, i.e. workspace, supplies to equipment?

Taking the time to focus on professionalism with your student will introduce them to skills and experiences that will frame how they approach the professional world as a young adult. If you address this topic with your student, you can help them become comfortable with behaving professionally and another step toward success.

-Carla

Monday, February 9, 2009

College Program: Where we fit into the big picture.

Some of you may have read about the College Program and wondered if Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the school district that serves all of our students, offers college counseling and if so, how the College Program fits into their structure. The College Program operates independently of CPS, which provides college prep programming under its Department of College and Career Preparation (DCCP). The DCCP’s website (http://www.postsecondary.cps.k12.il.us/) provides details on college prep services available through CPS and links to other resources available to parents and students.

The College Program at Cabrini Connections offers its students another layer of support and guidance in addition to the DCCP or any college counseling services offered by individual schools, particularly charter schools. The College Program mentors are on-site reservoirs of college prep information ready to address any college prep needs students may not have addressed at school and above all, make college prep a priority for the students and their mentors. Our tutor/mentors have built trust with their mentees and we at the College Program believe that their relationships and the organization create an additional support system for our student’s college prep experience.

If you are a tutor or mentor, consider your place in the network of support your student has in their college prep journey. Your role in your student’s life may shift between tutor, friend, confidante, cheerleader and math guru. Build a college prep focus in to all your roles, so your student feels supported throughout the process. Become a tutor who edits their college and scholarship essays, a friend who shares their experiences with higher education, a confidante to who listens to their student’s academic and financial concerns about college, a cheerleader who encourages their student to finish their college applications and of course, a math guru who knows how algebra and geometry apply to the ACT or SAT.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

New Contributor, The College Program hits the Internet

Greetings to Chris' loyal readers. My name is Carla Reyes and I would like to introduce myself as a new contributor to Chris' PIP blog. Like Chris, I am also a Northwestern grad and participating in the PIP fellowship. My PIP placement as a research associate at the Civic Federation has me focusing on public finance and policy by day. However, by night I am a volunteer with Cabrini Connections' College Program.

I plan to contribute posts about the College Program and its progress in addition to posts about mentoring with a college prep focus. I would like to share the program's story, challenges and triumphs and also discuss strategies for building a college prep component into a tutoring and mentoring organization.

Before I start contributing to the blog I would like to provide some background on the College Program:

* The College Program is the brainchild of Jen Nolan, a Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor, attorney and die-hard Illinois basketball fan. Jen worked with students applying to college in the 2007-2008 school year, but envisioned that the College Program could work with more students and provide more services.
* Jen, the Cabrini Connections staff and I created the College Program's current structure. The program currently works with students of all grade levels on a rotating basis. Any student can sign up to speak with a college mentor during tutoring time and college mentors alternate meeting with all students of a certain grade level every week to address their specific needs. For example, college mentors are currently meeting with all Juniors on a one-on-one basis every week during February to address their ACT prep needs and to answer any college related questions these students might have.
* The program has two college tutors: myself and Stephanie Rogers, a soon-to-be graduate of Westwood College and native Chicagoan.


I would like to thank Chris, for setting up this wonderful blog and for challenging me and Jen to build this new program. Thanks are also deserved for my colleagues at Cabrini Connections, EL Da'She On Nix and Nicole White, for all their help in building this program. My never ending gratitude also goes to Stephanie Rogers, my fellow college mentor, for jumping into the program and not missing a beat.

Finally, hats off to Jen Nolan, for creating this program and providing her support. Stephanie and I are working to execute your vision every week. I hope we can still be friends when Northwestern beats Illinois on Thursday.