Lampasas High School is the lone high school in a rural Texas district, about 25 miles from Fort Hood, one of the largest army posts in the United States. We have about 1000 student enrolled, with 45% categorized as economically disadvantaged and 31% minority (US News & World Report). I observed in my first year teaching sophomore English that many of our students were disadvantaged when it came to applying to college and the workplace. Our counseling department, like many schools, was spread thin, especially with Texas' heavy end-of-course testing requirements. There weren't a ton of resources publicly available to students for college (obviously there is a wealth of information available online, but students didn't even know where to begin looking). In collaboration with my English department head and our school librarian, I started a series of after-school programming to give students opportunities to help teach and reinforce some of the skills needed for college and the workplace.
We started in the spring of 2012 with a hiring workshop where we gave interview and application tips for local employers and gave students time to create a resume in the computer lab with one-on-one assistance. We had around 12 students attend our first little meeting. In the 2013-2014 school year, we labeled our events "Second Tuesdays" and hosted them in our school library on the second Tuesday of every month. I started teaching AP English to juniors in the 2013-2014 school year, and offered extra credit to students who attended. Many of my AP students were the first in their family to have the opportunity to go to college, and were clueless on the process. Our 2013-2014 Second Tuesday September event started with how to sign up the SAT and ACT (I had students bringing me cash, not realizing they needed to sign up and pay online). I had a camera to take pictures of students, since the testing sites require a photo for identification purposes and many of our students do not have access to digital cameras and computers at home. Over 40 students attended this workshop.
We started in the spring of 2012 with a hiring workshop where we gave interview and application tips for local employers and gave students time to create a resume in the computer lab with one-on-one assistance. We had around 12 students attend our first little meeting. In the 2013-2014 school year, we labeled our events "Second Tuesdays" and hosted them in our school library on the second Tuesday of every month. I started teaching AP English to juniors in the 2013-2014 school year, and offered extra credit to students who attended. Many of my AP students were the first in their family to have the opportunity to go to college, and were clueless on the process. Our 2013-2014 Second Tuesday September event started with how to sign up the SAT and ACT (I had students bringing me cash, not realizing they needed to sign up and pay online). I had a camera to take pictures of students, since the testing sites require a photo for identification purposes and many of our students do not have access to digital cameras and computers at home. Over 40 students attended this workshop.