College Bound Students Pressed for Time

With most colleges having their regular admissions deadline in the beginning of January, seniors don’t have time to waste. With researching colleges, filling out applications, and editing admission essays, many seniors are desperate for opportunities to complete everything on time. Other students are just learning what Naviance (a college readiness program) is and how to use it.

Only three years ago before Covid, SVHS had the A+ program for students to move around to different classes to talk to teachers, retake tests, turn in assignments, or complete homework. More specifically, A+ time was used as a work period for seniors who were applying to colleges.

This made it easier for those students to balance responsibilities from work, sports, and school without sacrificing time that could go towards being with family or recharging with sleep. With the rise of Covid, A+ ceased to exist once intervention was adopted. 

Intervention began during the 2020-21 school year to give students time to complete assignments without new material being taught. However, this intervention time has been used inconsistently by teachers. The program’s impact with helping students is in question as of right now.

Without a solid program with designated time provided for seniors to work on college applications, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a higher rate of late assignments, tardies, or lower test scores because of the lack of support in intervention.

The college and career center offered the CAAT program over summer which helped students get an overview of college applications. Ms. Conner, from the college and career center, also has some night workshops that students are able to attend. These workshops advertised via email do not attract a wide range of students. With better advertising this could change. 

These workshops are often the only time students work on their applications due to confusion with the applications at home, and lack of time given during school. By using intervention, students could get college applications done while avoiding errors. This would raise college application numbers, and boost students’ confidence when submitting essays.

With turning a week’s worth of intervention into a college workshop, many students could gain advice on their application, and even start the application process. This intervention time would be structured, including only students who don’t need this time to get help in that class (have good grades).