I had the pleasure of attending College and Career Day activities at several Aim High sites. Site directors and teachers have put on amazing activities for students that expose them to opportunities for their futures. Here are some highlights:
Aim High @ Mission students were welcomed to UC Berkeley by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated. Fraternity and sorority members performed step and stroll routines for students and then made up a student panel. Panelists let Aim High students know what it is like to be a college student at UC Berkeley, gave advice to students about what to do in middle school to prepare to thrive at the college level, and answered questions. Then, students ate lunch at UC Berkeley and went on a campus tour.
Aim High @ Marina opened their College & Career Day with three career panels. Panelists spoke from a wide range of career experience (dentist, journalist, hazards material chemist, teacher, marriage and family therapist, school counselor, musician, marketing professional, sound engineer, graphic designer, architect, environmental planning, engineer, intellectual property lawyer, legislative aide, artist and more). Three Aim High Alumni spoke on the career panels. Then, students headed off to Mills, UC Berkeley, San Francisco City College, Dominican College, FIDM or California College of the Arts. At the colleges, students went of campus tours and met with admissions officers to learn about what they can do in middle school and high school to prepare to thrive at the college level.
Aim High @ ER Taylor is innovating in the area of college and career awareness! Over the course of the summer they have held two College Claro assemblies, where role models share their experiences in middle, high school and college with students and offer advice. They have held a college and career panel and visited SF State University. Lastly, this year they hosted a College Preparatory High School Night at Lick-Wilmerding High School. At College Preparatory High School night, Aim High counselor Joanna Wardell covered differences between public, private and charter college prep high schools, admission requirements for [SF magnet schools] Lowell and SOTA, financial aid for private college prep high schools, and the college prep high school application workshops that Aim High offers during the school year. The night also included a panel of students who attend a wide range of college prep high schools. Students discussed their experiences applying to/enrolling in their high schools, the community at their high schools, sports and activities at their high schools (beginning to explore career interests), the academic rigor of their high schools, and more! We have a video of the panel on an Aim High flipcam.
The Aim High @ Marin Academy team is knocking college and career awareness out of the ballpark! Over the course of the summer, their students have engaged in college and career assemblies covering:
- first jobs and careers/how you found your path
- small private colleges versus big state schools
- diversity in higher education, migrant students, first generation students
- student life
- study abroad
- financial aid
- college athletics
- activism
