Advisers help students in Challenge High Schools

Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Newsletter

Achievement Zone high school students have one more resource to help them apply to and pay for college.  Members of the Carolina Advising Corps are working in Garinger, Waddell, West Charlotte and West Mecklenburg high schools to help students with admissions and scholarship applications, financial aid and course selection. 

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp visited West Charlotte High School Wednesday, Oct. 1, to talk to students about the Carolina Advising Corps program and answer questions about college.  Thorp talked about course offerings, class sizes and financial aid programs. 

"The Carolina Advising Corps program is here to help you get access to higher education," Thorp said.  He is touring the state, visiting high schools and colleges, after becoming Chancellor in July.

The Carolina Advising Corps began in 2007 to encourage low-income and minority students to enroll in college.  This summer, the program expanded to serve more than 7,000 students in 38 high schools across the state.  The advisers are recent college graduates and have been trained by UNC-Chapel Hill admissions counselors.  There are 18 advisers statewide, and two are assigned to CMS.  The advisers work closely with school counselors.  This is CMS' first year in the program.

"This is fertile ground for the College Advising Program," said Principal John Modest.  "Our students will definitely benefit from this program."

Admissions Director Steve Farmer and Interim Carolina Advising Corps Coordinator Jennie Cox Bell answered questions.  Students asked about financial aid, campus life, admissions requirements and extracurricular activities.

"What can we do to set our essays apart from those of other applicants?" asked 12^th-grader Jerry Bowens. 

Pharen Bowman, a UNC graduate, is assigned to West Charlotte and West Mecklenburg high schools.  Justin Simmons works at E.E. Waddell and Garinger high schools.

"The great thing about working directly with the students is that they tell me exactly what they need and we work together to make it happen," Bowman said.

"Pharen is a perfect example of what we aspire to do best --- encourage young people in North Carolina to go to college for the betterment of our state," said Thorp.

The Carolina Advising Corps is funded by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Annie Penn Community Trust and the Golden LEAF Foundation.  It is one of 13 such programs in the National College Advising Corps, which is headquartered at UNC-Chapel Hill.

For more information, visit http://advisingcorps.org/page/carolina-advising-corps.  To view Chancellor Thorp's blog, visit http://holden.unc.edu/.