College readiness topic of series kick-off


Kick-off presentations include:

The 13th Year by John Rogers, Wright State University

The College Athlete by Todd Jones, Wright State University

The Cheap Scholar by Doug Schantz, Wittenberg University, and Joan Elder, The Springfield Foundation

Essays that Work by Jimmy Williams, Wittenberg University

The Roadmap to College by Callie Cary-Devine, Clark State Community College

Source: Springfield City Schools

Springfield City Schools, along with several Miami Valley colleges and universities and a local non-profit, will kick off a free year-long seriesTuesday to help Clark County students and their families navigate getting into, and staying in college.

The school district, Clark State and Sinclair community colleges, Central State, Wittenberg and Wright State universities, and The Springfield Foundation, have partnered to present Springfield College 101, which launches with a five-talk event from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Classroom learning provides students with the base knowledge they need to be academically successful in college-level classes, but there’s often a disconnect with the process of getting into, paying for, and staying in college, officials said.

“When recent graduates started coming back from college to talk to our students probably about 4 years ago or so, what we found was that students and parents today have a lot of different questions and they want to hear from a lot of different voices,” District spokeswoman Kim Fish said.

After several years of data collection from college-readiness assessments of Springfield students in both academics and other skills needed for college like time management, note taking, understanding the college culture and financial aid, the district found that even those who were well-prepared academically are often not prepared for the latter, Fish said.

“We met with the college partners and they basically said ‘You know, we see the same issues on campus, when the kids come here as freshmen. We know how to kind of answer these questions,’” she said.

The event on Tuesday will also feature tables with information and representatives from the partnering institutions to answer questions of attendees.

Organizers will also provide details that night about other events planned between then and December. Future events and details will also be posted online at SpringfieldCollege101.com.

The program will continue in at least each Tuesday through January with presentations on various topics by Wright State representatives from 3 to 5 p.m. during the after-school block of The Learning Cafe, and there will be a rotation of representatives from the institutions who will give presentations from 6 to 8 p.m.

The programs isn’t limited to families of students at Springfield City Schools. The kick-off and future events will be held in The Learning Café at Springfield High School, 701 E. Home Road.

“This College 101 is really opening the door for students and parents to really better-understand what the college experience is,” said Callie Cary-Devine, retention adviser at Clark State Community College and a presenter at Tuesday’s kick-off. “It’s equally important for the family to understand so that they can be supportive of their kids.”

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