High-schoolers experience college

Although the 60-plus Fremont high school students involved in the College Awareness Program (CAP) have been on the Heidelberg campus before, their visit today (Jan. 31), was different. Today, they had the opportunity to sit in on actual college classes.
 
 
“We thought it would be important to allow them to have a glimpse of what a college curriculum and college instruction is all about,” said Thanda Maceo, vice president of enrollment and marketing.
 
 
Maceo and Heidelberg are collaborating with Terra Community College, the Fremont Public Schools and the African-American College Club in Fremont to increase access to college for minority students, demonstrate for them what the college experience is like, and help them prepare for college success. Today’s program was the fourth in the yearlong series. The CAP received funding from the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges through its minority grant program.
 
 
Dr. Gayle Jackson, who’s with the African-American College Club, told the students they are “blessed to have the opportunity to be part of this very unique program.”
 
 
“We want to get you information to help you not only get into college, but to graduate,” she said.
 
 
Before they headed to class, the students heard from President Dominic Dottavio, who talked about the shared characteristics of the CAP program and the Heidelberg.
 
 
“From our beginning, Heidelberg was different. We were co-educational back in the 1800s, and that was a statement about inclusion and diversity from the start of this college,” the president said. “We try to live that out every day as part of our mission and our values.”
 
 
A major – and highly successful – component of the program is a buddy/mentor system that pairs the high-schoolers with a college student. Eight Heidelberg mentors and the high school students were reunited for conversation and activities as part of a cultural exchange component of the program.
 
 
The students were treated to lunch in Heidelberg’s Hoernemann Refectory before heading back to Fremont Ross High School.
 
 
Posted on Jan. 31, 2008