KIPP New Orleans, within its value set, highlights that scholars should be focused and supported "to and through college." This effort to give kids a visual into how close they really are to college can be effective if our teachers are focusing on getting kids to college campuses. If scholars can't imagine what college is, and only hear the word college, they don't understand much about the concept. My scholars were very familiar with "college" in the sense of going to one of the few universities in New Orleans. That is great, and our scholars took a tour of Dillard University within New Orleans. They were able to see what a college campus looked like, how they would be expected to perform to get there, and what scholarship opportunities were available to them in high school. While they processed that, one of my students asked me how I was allowed to go to Ohio State. I immediately explained that they could go wherever they wanted to. I wanted to give them the ability to see a school far away and say to themselves, "Hey, I can go there if I want." I emailed my advisor and a friend from Ohio State who works in the admissions office and scheduled him to FaceTime with my scholars a campus tour on the big screen in our classroom. The ability for my scholars to "virtually" attend Ohio State for a day was foreign to them. I had 5-6 questions about if they could really go there or not. Giving scholars the ability to see a school "far away" from their community immediately expanded their thinking of what college was. It wasn't viewed as a New Orleans-specific topic, but was now an adventure to explore all over the country. The access I set up and gave scholars to schools in other parts of the United States was invaluable to their development and understanding of college.
Scholar Pre-Work
Before scholars got online with an admissions counselor at Ohio State, they participated in a "self-tour" video of Ohio State. This gave them a run down of important facts, video, and things to know about campus. They reflected about what they might want to study, if they knew anyone who went to college, and why they thought going to college was important.
Student makes connection with college and becoming a doctor someday.
Student has a clear perception of what college is and has a parent that attended.
Pre-Work from a student shows that they know the importance of college, but don't have any direct family members to provide access.
Student Reflections
After the virtual visit and tour, scholars reflected on what they saw, heard, and experienced. They reflected about what would make them want to go to an out-of-state school versus a New Orleans school, as well as if their opinion changed about Ohio State from before and after the tour.
Scholars took away valuable information from the tours. Students understand and make connections with college and life after. Notice the comment related to going somewhere else for college so they can "see other places."
Teacher Reflection
I was sure to give students proper preparation before their virtual day at Ohio State. During pre-work, scholars studied exactly what they might like to major in, along with class names they might take. Doing this helped them visualize that they would one day be in college and having to make decisions like this. Seeing that they have choice in their work or what they want to do gave kids the access they need to understand that they make decisions that affect their trajectory.
Students during the virtual tour were ecstatic to see the campus that I lived and studied on. They marveled at the freedom they would have, along with the choices they would get to make about school. They asked strong questions of the admissions counselor. I can recall one student asking, "What grades do I need to keep so that my parents don't have to pay for me to get up to Ohio State?" Those types of questions highlighted for me that my access I gave them was working. Scholars were imagining themselves at Ohio State and running through scenarios in their heads to try and make out-of-state college work for their families.
After the field trip, I recognized a stronger and more active approach in most of my scholars during the day. They were able to see that their grades today affect their options down the road. If they want to go somewhere, they have the ability to go, but they need to provide themselves the proper base to get them there. Because of the access I set up for my scholars, I noticed scholars finally realizing that Ohio (or any other state) may not actually be so far away.