New Visions students gain college essay advantage at joint workshop

On Monday, October 29, students in the New Visions: Human Services& Special/Elementary Education and New Visions: Journalism & Media Studies programs joined together for a seminar on writing the college application essay. Students in small groups critiqued essays written by previous New Visions students and reviewed experts' recommendations about how to construct the best possible essay.

A guest speaker, Harry Wood, addressed the group providing tips from his many years of experience as former director of undergraduate admissions and enrollment at U-Albany, director of admissions at Siena College, vice president of enrollment at Marist College, and work in the admissions offices at Holy Cross and Clarkson colleges. The New Visions students had quite a few questions for Mr. Wood about the college admissions process.

"Our students really enjoyed the seminar," said Happy Scherer, teacher of the New Visions: Human Services & Special/Elementary Education program. "Putting the two classes together was not only a lot of fun, but also brought different perspectives to the table. My students learned a lot from working with the journalism students as they critiqued essays, while my students impressed Ms. Sheehan's students with their strong commitment to community service and working with disabled kids and adults."

The morning culminated in brainstorming about topics for the essay, and students in both classes will be submitting their essays by November 8.

"The whole process of getting started on the college essay is often so intimidating to students," Scherer said. "I think we short-circuited some of this anxiety by providing information and helping students to brainstorm good topics for their essays."

[Reported by Ms. Scherer 11.2.07]