Sixty-five ninth-grade students are getting an early introduction to college from Bowdoin students today. The visiting students from seven area high schools, including Brunswick and Mt. Ararat high schools, are spending the day with a Bowdoin student for the third annual Aspirations in ME: A Taste of the College Experience.
The program, organized by the Community Service Resource Center with assistance from Bowdoin Upward Bound, gives Maine high school students early exposure to the array of opportunities available in a college environment.
Formerly the Martin Luther King Day of Service, the program was created in response to the discrepancy between Maine high school graduation rates and the number of students enrolling in post-secondary education. According to statistics from the Maine Department of Education, while 86 percent of Maine students graduate from high school, only 71 percent of students intend to enroll in post-secondary institutions.
While participants come from a variety of backgrounds, the event targets students from lower-income backgrounds, or those who would be the first generation of college students in their family.
"I try to really encourage guidance counselors to target students who may be first in the family to go to college and lower-income students. Though it's not exclusive," said Assistant Director of Upward Bound Ginny Fowles.
According to Fowles, giving the students the opportunity to experience college firsthand is vital in changing their perceptions of higher education.
"In high schools there is such a limited amount of information and limited opportunities, especially in Maine," she said. "It is more than just sitting in a classroom for another four years."
AmeriCorps*VISTA Matt Thomson, who helped organize the event, also envisions Aspirations in ME as a means to provide students with a more complete understanding of college life.
"I want students to have an idea of the opportunities available at college. There is a whole array of opportunities," he said. "You aren't just there to learn in a classroom. To see college as an exciting experience, not just an academic endeavor."
The schedule of events for Aspirations in ME reflects both the academic and non-academic aspects of college life. Students will attend classes with their Bowdoin hosts, eat at Thorne Dining Hall, and explore the campus.
In the afternoon, students will have the opportunity to hear about the experiences of Maine students at Bowdoin through a question-and-answer panel. In addition, students will attend informal discussions with Senior Associate Dean Linda Kreamer, as well as with Director of Student Aid Stephen Joyce.
Panel member Jamie Burwood '08, from Sidney, Maine, hopes that the program will generate excitement about going to college, as well as help students realize that college is an attainable goal.
"Getting students to visualize themselves at college is absolutely vital in encouraging them to actually apply to and ultimately attend a college or university," Burwood said in an e-mail to the Orient. "Maine students today are facing a number of obstacles when it comes to the college process, and it is really essential that they get the opportunity to see that college is something that is within their reach, and to imagine themselves thriving intellectually, socially, and creatively in a campus environment."
Fellow panel member, Nate Lovitz '08 of Fairfield, Maine, wants to show students that there is more to college than preparing for a specific career.
"A lot of kids are unsure of what they hope to do for the rest of their lives, so they end up not furthering their education," he said in an e-mail. "I want to help them understand that you don't need to be stuck in one career path, and that at a school like Bowdoin you can take classes in many different subjects until you find something that you really love."
Bowdoin students can also learn a lot from the high school students, particularly about education issues in Maine. AmeriCorps*Vista Nicole Hart, who was been involved in organizing the event, considers Aspirations in ME another way for Bowdoin students to interact with the community.
"I think it is an opportunity to learn more about the community they live in," said Hart. "There are a lot of students from Maine hosting students, but also a lot of students from out-of-state. They may host a student from Vinalhaven and never go to Vinalhaven. But, they will realize there are students in high school on Vinalhaven and understand their situation."
The event also provides Bowdoin students with insight into the role economics plays in high school students' decision to pursue college educations.
According to Fowles, Bowdoin students "will gain an understanding of the conditions of higher or secondary education and see how economics and opportunity plays into that."
For Burwood, changing students' perceptions of college may be quite simple.
"It would be my hope that somewhere over the course of the day, each student experiences at least one thing that gets them excited about attending college?whether it be a course that they could imagine themselves loving, or hearing about an extracurricular activity that they could imagine themselves enjoying," she said.