By: Julien Arroyo & Jonathan Nieves
November 8, 2024`
The carver's banner for the heights office with an inspiring quote on one side and the title on the other side.
Some students at Carver HSES are clueless as to what academic programs are available to them ahead of the 2024-2025 school year class selection process. This cluelessness comes from the fact that they fail to seek out resources that are easily accessible to them.
Unknown to most students, Carver’s approach to education is considered an academic program. With Carver being a college prep school, students are given the opportunity to enroll in difficult courses that colleges would like to see you taking.
“Just giving you that foundation and exposure earlier to, like, challenging courses like honor and AP, because it gives you and get you used to handling that kind of rigor when you get to college.” Tyrone Neal, a Carver student counselor, stated.
But students like to believe that high school is all about a straight A student and they believe you can’t get into a good college without a 4.0 GPA. This results in them focusing on that and not other parts of their high school careers like clubs or experiences which can make them stand out to colleges.
“Kids always get kind of twisted that you think you have to be this 4.0 student. That is great, but colleges want to know who else you are, right? They want a well rounded student, and they don't just want the academic kid that's the straight 4.0, but what are those other experiences in your life that you value?” Neal said.
Academics programs have been changed to year round instead of only a couple of weeks. Students are used to these programs being short and, seemingly, being useless but now the programs are more fleshed out and extended.
“The biggest change, potentially, is the opportunity to work with these high school students year-round, versus just six weeks.” Said Temple University's center executive director, Shirley Moy.
Some students at Carver seem to be at a loss when it comes to understanding what an Academic program is
“Uh. To be honest I kinda have no idea. Maybe it's a program that helps you better academically?” said Naliel Candelas-Lopez, a striving 11th grade student
Mr. Tyrone Neal, a counselor at Carver Engineering and Science.
Despite seeming like you need profound understanding, the simple twist is this: Carver itself is an academic program.
“We are truly a college prep school, and I think more importantly, combining that with the enrichment experiences . . . I think it's so important” said Mr Neal.
Through Carvers curricular structure, we are able to give students like Naliel a chance to further push their education with college-level classes.
“I take AP Chem and AP Micro” said Candelas-Lopez.
But beyond just a college level course, its difficult for students to be fully engaged with their readiness for college. Students understand that programs are available, but it isn’t easily accessed.
“Honestly, I don't really read my emails at all, I know that the school sends out like those emails with stuff but I never really read them. I feel like if they were more talkative about that stuff rather than just an email, I would know more about what it has to offer.” Candelas-Lopez stated.
Page updated
Report abuse