Attempting to prevent a ‘deer-in-headlights’ reaction
Program helps Westhill students get jump start on applying to college
STAMFORD — Ashley Katz has a way of describing students who come to her counseling office at Westhill High School in September without a clue about how to apply to college.
“Deer in headlights,” she said.
Hopefully, a brand-new program introduced this summer at the school could reduce the number of deerin-headlights moments next semester.
The “Westhill College
Prep Academy” debuted this past week, with sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The program comes from the RISE Network, an educational nonprofit designed to help address the achievement gap and improve student outcomes at 10 high schools in nine districts across Connecticut, including Westhill.
While RISE staff supplemented the program with lessons and coaching, it was Westhill staff that led the in-class presentations
and instruction. Katz, a counselor at Westhill, was the school coordinator for the academy here.
The in-class instructors were Owen Sandoval, a social studies teacher; Kathyrn Devine, a counselor; and Mat DiGiovanna, an art teacher.
Students came to the school for sessions from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. all three days. Westhill faculty coached them on subjects related to college applications, from completing a list of colleges to apply to and how to write a college essay to how to apply for financial aid.
The program was free, and students were provided with breakfast and lunch.
Westhill principal Michael Rinaldi said the school was “very fortunate and grateful” to be able to offer the RISE program.
“Every year of a student’s high school career is important,” he said, in a written comment. “However, how a student begins their time in high school as a freshman and how they cross the finish line during their senior year is critical.”
Valerie Hennessy, a postsecondary coach with RISE, said the central aim of the program was “to provide targeted coaching and support to first-generation students or students otherwise identified as high need.”
The program, however, was open to any senior at the school.
Hennessy said that of the 39 students who attended the program, about a third self-identified as future first-generation college students.
She said the school was hoping to have 40 students attend, falling just shy of that figure for the first year.
“The first year of launching anything, you have to sell the kids on it a bit,” she said “Especially after a year as draining as last year with COVID.”
Katz said some of the families the program wanted to reach seemed to be taking advantage of it.
“Even this morning at drop off, some parents would stop me and say, ‘We don’t know what we’re doing,’ ” she said, about the challenge first-generation families face when applying to college.
Getting students to participate in a summer program for three days and stay interested and engaged sounds like a daunting task, but Katz said the feedback from the first day was positive.
She heard from some students who said they were signed up for the program by their mothers, but felt like they were actually getting something out of it.
She sees the three-day academy as a way to help students get off on the right foot.
“This is just a great way to start getting them rolling,” Katz said.