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As a highschool senior within the Bronx final fall, Joeysha Pena was feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of making use of to varsity. “I felt like I wasn’t mentally prepared,” Joeysha remembers.
However that started to vary after she enrolled in a university and profession class that met thrice every week within the library of her faculty, the Bronx Excessive Faculty for Legislation, Authorities and Justice, because of CUNY’s partnership with New York Metropolis Public Faculties to assist town’s highschool college students transition to CUNY faculties.
Joeysha started working one-on-one with Philip Baltazar, a current Baruch School graduate who’s certainly one of greater than 300 “near peer” CUNY faculty advisers and coaches working with public highschool college students throughout town.
Early within the faculty yr, Philip handed Joeysha a customized “Welcome to CUNY” letter providing admission to any of the College’s seven neighborhood faculties and waiving the appliance price. He suggested her on choices to pursue her desired profession in legislation enforcement, helped her full her CUNY utility and FAFSA kind and, tapping his personal expertise, helped her put together for school life.
Once more this fall, each highschool senior within the metropolis acquired that welcome letter and admissions supply. Throughout our free utility interval, which ended Nov. 15, we acquired practically 60,000 freshman purposes and 1000’s of these potential college students are actually getting the form of assist from CUNY advisers that Joeysha acquired. However CUNY’s partnership with the general public faculties goes far past profession and enrollment steering.
We additionally supply a big range of applications, reminiscent of CUNY Early School and School Now, that enroll 1000’s of highschool college students in college-level programs that enable them to come back to CUNY with credit within the financial institution.
Our booming recruitment efforts prolong to potential college students of all ages, backgrounds and aspirations. In lower than three years, our pioneering CUNY Reconnect program has introduced again greater than 40,000 New Yorkers who began faculty however left earlier than incomes a level, together with 8,000 this fall. This program was designed for adults with busy lives who wish to full a level, earn a certificates or change careers.
Each CUNY Reconnect and our partnership applications with the general public faculties have demonstrated that personalised steering has an actual impression on college students’ long-term success. And college students who earn faculty credit in highschool know from the beginning what it takes to achieve success. They’re extra more likely to keep in faculty and full their diploma than those that enroll in faculty with out these experiences.
We additionally know that our faculty advisers and coaches assist highschool college students really feel assured about faculty as a result of they’re function fashions who come from the identical communities and excessive faculties as they do.
“I tell all my students, ‘Don’t go to college just to go to college,’” Philip says. “There are so many resources and opportunities to take advantage of at CUNY. Look for internships. Get the experiences that will help you on your career path. Even now, if I see an opportunity for Joeysha, I send it her way.” Matos Rodríguez is the chancellor of The Metropolis College of New York (CUNY), the most important city public college system in the USA.
