For high school students hoping to be first-generation college students, attending college can seem a far-off, abstract concept.
Through the College Readiness Fair, the El Pomar Foundation hopes to make the idea of college attendance more concrete in the minds of high school students by organizing tours around local higher education facilities in the area. The Foundation will be working with the Butler Center to organize student activities around the Colorado College campus on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
The El Pomar Foundation has been improving the lives of residents in Southeast El Paso County for over 20 years. Recently, they developed the Pikes Peak Community Development Initiative, with the goal of developing grant-making, technical assistance, and capacity-building activities in order to continue to address philanthropic concerns.
As a part of this initiative, they developed the College Readiness Fair, which will take 140 9th- through 12th-grade students to five higher education schools. Besides Colorado College, the students will visit University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak Community College, United States Air Force Academy, and the Educating Children of Color Summit.
The El Pomar Foundation has coordinated with the Butler Center to create a day for the high school students to become familiar with CC. The program’s emphasis on trying to increase the likelihood of these high school students attending college is closely aligned with the Butler Center’s commitment to promote an equitable social and intellectual climate on campus.
Visiting students will be split into groups and participate in different workshops created by individual Butler Center staff members. Some staff members have recruited CC student interns to help as well.
Pearl Leonard-Rock will be running a workshop entitled “College Students Give Advice to Their Younger Selves.”
“I will be monitoring because I have employed four college students to be facilitators,” said Leonard-Rock. “The workshop will address academic enrichment, service to the community, leadership development, and your character.”
While with Leonard-Rock, the high school students will listen to college students as they reflect on advice they would have given to their ninth-grade selves and think about how this advice may be applicable to their development over the coming years.
“We’ll answer questions with students and introduce them to a SMART plan,” said Leonard-Rock.
A SMART plan must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. After the discussion, students will sit quietly to make their own plans.
Liliana Delman, Coordinator of Mentoring and Disability Initiatives at the Butler Center, will be conducting her own workshop as well. She plans to do a CC treasure hunt.
“They’ll be in three groups and come to me in three different waves,” said Delman. “I’ll tell them, ‘Go find Tutt Library,’ and then they can go explore it. After I’ll have them write down three things they could do at each location.”
Delman feels that this activity will help encourage kids to feel comfortable on CC’s campus.
“They can start imagining how they can use space when they’re at college,” said Delman. “It’s really encouraging them to recognize that they can do this. These sessions encourage students to stay motivated on their path to getting a college degree.”