At a time when students start worrying about college at younger and younger ages, many high schoolers feel the pressure to begin the college process but don’t know where to start.
For Archer students, the college guidance team has created a series for upper school students to come and explore topics related to college without any pressure. The Lunch & Learn program offers a variety of sessions during lunch periods for students with varying interests. Upper school students received an email with all of the meeting topics at the beginning of the year, and they can select the ones they want to attend.
In the latest session Monday, Sept. 29, Associate Director of College Guidance Shalyn Tharayil discussed the college guidance curriculum for ninth and 10th grade students, in which they are first asked to think about their Identity, Community and Impact, often referred to as ICIs. The session covered how to get involved on and off campus, focusing on how to connect students’ interests to clubs and service work. Other meetings cover more specific topics like the recruitment process for student athletes or applications for arts programs.
While college guidance does not begin working directly with students until their junior year, Lunch & Learn gives ninth and 10th graders a chance to get to know the counselors and begin asking questions, Tharayil said.
“[Lunch & Learn] exposes [ninth and 10th graders] to the breadth of topics within college admissions. I think so often we’re so focused on, ‘What do I need to do to get in?'” Tharayil said. “There’s a lot of other things related to college that are just interesting to think about and reflect also in terms of, ‘Is this something that I might want?'”
Freshman Maya Kurc said she attended the Lunch & Learn with the goal of better understanding what the college process looks like and how she can start brainstorming her application. She said that hearing about ICIs helped her reflect about how she can use her own passions to help others.
“Some things that I really took away was the ICIs and how you first start by looking at your identity and community,” Kurc said. “Then you can take aspects of those to see how you can make an impact, so that it’s something you’re actually interested in.”
She said the meeting made her think about her love of ballet, and how in the future, she could use her interest to make an impact by teaching ballet to others.
“I do a lot of ballet outside of school, and it takes up a lot of my time,” Kurc said. “I feel like that is a big part of my life, and I would love to make an impact that’s related to ballet.”
Juliet Nichols (’29) said she enjoyed the structure of the meeting, which included a presentation from Tharayil and time for students to reflect and ask questions. She said she was interested in attending the meeting this year since colleges review applicants’ entire high school career.
“It’s really important to look at things that you’re already interested in and already being part of and figure out ways to make them what colleges are looking for, like leadership positions,” Nichols said. “Or if there’s an activity you like, trying to figure out a service project that relates.”
Tharayil said that having students begin to reflect on their growth in younger grades helps them understand what colleges are expecting to see in applications.
“[ICIs] [help you] get to know yourself and be introspective and think about here your communities [here] or outside of Archer,” Tharayil said. “What are ways that you can grow as a person or make an impact? Because that actually is what matters in the long run, right?”
