At this point in the year, most seniors have figured out what they are doing once they graduate. They have applied for schools, and many have already received their acceptance letters. However, seniors are not the only ones who can be preparing for college and life beyond high school. Underclassmen can start preparing for college in many ways. Some examples of this include AP classes, college fairs and tours, scholarships, and more. Even freshmen can start preparing for college. Freshman at North Augusta High School, Lauren Bell, stated, “To prepare for college, I have been taking AP courses and building my resume with afterschool activities.” She is a prime example that it is never too early to start preparing for your future.
Many students at North Augusta High School are taking the same route as Bell, challenging themselves with AP courses throughout their high school career. “AP courses are rigorous courses that provide students an opportunity to earn college credit,” says school counselor Mrs. Rowland. She expounds upon this, stating “Students will sit for an AP exam, and if their score is high enough, they could potentially earn college credit. These exams are free for students and are not calculated in the student's classroom grade for the course. Students can use the website www.sctrac.org to determine how AP courses transfer to a particular college.” North Augusta High School has many AP classes for students of all grades to take, including AP Biology, AP U.S. History, AP Human Geography, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Psychology, and much more.
Students can also earn college credits by taking dual enrollment classes, also known as concurrent classes, which Mrs. Rowland describes as “an inexpensive way to start earning college credits.” The dual enrollment program is offered by the University of South Carolina-Aiken, and juniors and seniors who meet the qualifications can sign up to take classes at the university while still taking high school classes at NAHS. For more information about dual enrollment and the requirements, students can visit the Counseling page on the NAHS website.
North Augusta High School also hosts several college fairs, which underclassmen can attend. “This year they will most likely be virtual, but we are hoping for in-person college fairs in the Fall of 2021,” says Mrs. Rowland. She also suggests that underclassmen participate in college tours at schools they are interested in and visit college websites.
One of the most important ways that underclassmen can prepare for college is through scholarships. While the Scholarship Newsletter is mainly targeted towards seniors and some of the scholarships are only for seniors, many of the scholarships on it are available to students of all grades. Mrs. Rowland also mentioned that the counseling department sometimes posts scholarships that are specifically for underclassmen.
While all underclassmen should be thinking of college and life after high school, juniors, especially, need to start preparing for applying to college next year. Juniors Tommy Burch, AnnElise Baxley, and Kadence Adams all elaborated on how they are preparing for college. Burch mentioned how he was starting to work on his college applications, as well as his Boy’s State Application. Baxley visited Clemson for a weekend to attend a program and stated, “I did a program called C-CATS. It was awesome and I love it. I have also been working on my resume and making sure that I do enough volunteer work." And Adams received a softball scholarship to North Greenville University. She said, “I play travel softball, and over the summer, I met college coaches. One of the coaches I met was from North Greenville, and they were very interested in me. So, I went to camps and had a tour of the school. They offered me a scholarship and I committed.”
For more information about ways to prepare for college, visit the NAHS Counseling page on our school’s website or contact your guidance counselor.
Pictured:Mrs. Rowland
Photo Credit: Greer Worley
Comentarios