College Tours

[Mary Lou Boughton]

Here's one way... in addition to working with youth at Greater Kalamazoo
United Way, I work with the high school kids at a local church.  We've done
day trip college tours - mostly informal visits to colleges within a
relatively small area but each offering a different "campus feel".

We could cover a diversity of campus styles staying in town - Western
Michigan University is pretty good size, Kalamazoo College small liberal
arts very competitive enrollment, Kalamazoo Valley Community College 2 year
technical and basic liberal arts courses, and Davenport College business
school.   But, instead we've taken day trips around Michigan with the
intention of looking at small, medium and large places of higher education.
Whether they end up staying in town or going away, it's good for kids to
see something new as they think about this next step in their lives.  By
moving right along we've done 3 or 4 in a day.  Here are a couple of
itineraries:
1.)  Albion College (small liberal arts school), University of Michigan
(classic huge school), Alma College (another small school but the group is
Presbyterian and Alma is too and it's along the way to...) Central Michigan
University (mid-size in a small town).
2.)  Hope College (small liberal arts in Holland), Grand Valley (in Grand
Rapids and is getting bigger all the time), Ferris (lots of good technical
programs), Michigan State University (Big 10 school, next to state capital)

We schedule a formal campus talk at least one stop and rely on kids from
Kalamazoo meeting us to talk a bit at the others.  The idea is to give high
school kids a feel for being campus life in a number of different settings.
Where did they feel most comfortable - small, medium or large setting?  Are
they concerned about large lecture hall classes or having lots to do in
extra curricular activities?

We travel in a bus and have opportunity to talk about what we saw and how
it differed from or confirmed what we expected.   Taking a group overnight
is a good idea, too, but brings up a whole set of costs and such.   Either
way, I think it's good to not go on a weekend - the central theme for the
visit should be around higher education and that means visiting when most
of the classes are going on.  Weekends on campus are times when other
valuable lessons are learned - but perhaps those are ones you can talk
about rather than be in the middle of...

MLB

<p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
YouthLearn ( http://www.youthlearn.org ) brings together youth
professionals to share information on using technology to create
exciting learning environments. YouthLearn was created by the
Morino Institute ( http://www.morino.org ) and is now an Initiative
at Education Development Center ( http://www.edc.org ). We hope
this list assists you in your efforts to make a difference in the
lives and potential of young people.

Tips:
* To post a message to this group, send an email to
mailto:youthlearn at mail.edc.org

* To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list or
to receive YouthLearn in digest form, go to
http://www.youthlearn.org/join/subscribe.html

* To search the YouthLearn archives, go to
http://www.edc.org/hypermail/youthlearn/

* To contact the list facilitator, send an email to
mailto:wrivenburgh at edc.org