Last week BUILD Metro DC hosted its first college tour of the year for its high school seniors. Many of these students will be the first in their family to attend higher education institutions. The group travelled to George Mason University (GMU) and Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA).
At GMU, students were given a tour of the campus, engaged in a Q and A panel with current students, had lunch in campus dining facilities, and were given an overview of the admissions process.
After finishing the school tour, Kalani Sheffield, senior at Eastern High School and a four-year BUILD participant noted, “What makes this school seem like a good fit for me is it has diversity. I was not big on diversity at first, but to see everyone come together within the campus and to see the college life and see different races together to accomplish one goal which is to start a career in life…In the real world you will also have a diversity of people…George Mason offers that and that’s what I like about the campus.”
Later students traveled to NOVA.
NOVA has a robust transfer program explained, BUILD Metro DC College and Career Program Manager, Laura Ryan, ” Sometimes there can be a stigma about going to community college. It was important for students to understand the benefits of community college and see that with NOVA’s partnership with George Mason University and many other institutions, that a four-year university would still be an option if they started at community college.”
Many thanks to Northern Virginia Community College’s student ambassadors and George Mason University’s Black Student Alliance.
