There is no harm in preparing as early as your freshman year in high school for the college application process and looking for resources that will help you along the way. That is why our College Connect Program is already visiting schools and reaching out to students. At the beginning of the month, Ivan Aguilera, High School Coordinator, made a visit to John O’Connell High to table and promote Mission Graduates and the College Connect Program. He shared some information in regards to financial aid, scholarships, and other tools to freshman, juniors, and seniors. For sophomores, he spent most of the time talking about the College Connect Program since come summer, they will be juniors and eligible to apply.
In the past, recruitment has been done later in the year, but Ivan says he has started recruiting and reaching out with the hopes of getting more students to consider the program sooner. Also, with early outreach to this nearby school, he hopes more students will apply to the program. In previous cohorts, the number of participants from John O’Connell High has been low, although the students that are accepted to the program from O’Connell are pretty amazing! Since the school is near our office space, we would definitely like more students from there. How many O’Connell students will Cohort 8 have? With Ivan already on board the recruitment journey, we hope we can receive a boost in applications from this school!
– Giselle Martinez, College Connect Intern