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Heading off to college without seeing the campus first is like jumping out of a plane without double-checking your parachute. Visiting prospective schools gives students a chance to check out the facility so they don’t leave a crater when they hit the ground. Senior Danielle Deisenroth, for one, appreciated her visits to Cornell and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“I was really glad that I visited both of them,” said senior Danielle Deisenroth. “Before I went Cornell was my top choice, but afterwards I realized that it wasn’t what I expected.”
“The East Coast wasn’t what I thought it would be, for one. It was a little too conservative for my taste,” Deisenroth said. “I knew it was a top quality school, but I thought there would be more emphasis on extracurricular activities as well.”
Currently, college campus visits are not school sponsored activities, and students often face semester tests when they return.
“It’s not fair that people get school sponsored for single periods to go run errands,” said senior Anne Bianchi. “Yet, when we want to go look at a school where we’re going to drop $30,000 or $40,000, we can’t go without taking an absence.”
Last year, student council members met with career center adviser Craig Hunnicutt and principal Gary Martin to develop a proposal allowing seniors the use their excused absence reserved for career shadowing to visit a college. The two main problems with the proposal, were liability and students missing extra school.
“If you represent FHS in an activity, then you are school sponsored,” said activities director Randy Russell.
Seniors who visit colleges are representing themselves, not the school. School sponsoring is designed for students involved in programs affiliated with FHS.
Martin said he believes college visits on school time are unnecessary. Students already have time to visit prospective schools, such as spring break, Christmas break, three-day weekends, and PIR days.
“Those who are more college motivated tend to be involved in more activities and already miss a lot of school,” said Martin. “Missing more isn’t healthy. If you’re going to know how to swim, you have to be in the water.”
With so many excused absences on the roster, Martin believes creating a new excuse is unecessary. Alternatives are being discussed and Martin is open to suggestions, however nothing is definite yet.
“Something needs to be in place that encourages students to visit colleges, not penalizes them for it,” said Hunnicutt, adding: “Seniors should stop whining about semester tests and take the absences they need to go visit colleges. It’s way more important than having to take a little test.” |
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