Monroe High School is the only Monroe County High School chosen for a new three-year advising program aimed at helping more high school students successfully enter and complete college.
Starting in the fall with the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year, as part of the AdviseMI College Advising Program, a college advisor will be in place full-time at Monroe High School to help students apply and get accepted at colleges and universities.
“This is great for our kids and will really help us as we continue strengthening our college-going culture at Monroe High School,” said MHS Principal Valerie Orr, who had successfully applied for the three-year grant earlier in this school year. “We will assign this person to work exclusively with the Class of 2016 throughout their senior year. I am so happy for the added opportunities this provides Monroe High School students.”
The one-to-one college advising now will help Monroe High School students as they navigate the complex process of college admission and financial aid. This college advisor will work closely with four existing post-secondary planners at MHS who already work with the Class of 2016.
“This is a real advantage for our students because a number of them will be first-generation college in their families and just do not have the experience in considering colleges, applying for admission and receiving financial aid to attend,” Mrs. Orr said.
“The AdviseMI program’s goal is to increase the number of high school students who enter and complete post-secondary education and that fits perfectly with what we are doing here at Monroe High School,” Mrs. Orr added.
The program operates under the auspices of the Michigan College Access Network which works with state and local educational leaders to increase college readiness, enrollment and completion rates.
All of the advisors associated with the program are recent graduates from Michigan colleges and universities who have undergone intensive five-week training, They are to serve as experts, mentors, champions and guides to the high school students they serve, and help foster a college-gong culture in the high schools to which they are assigned.
The state colleges and universities which are participating in the program are Alma College, Central Michigan University, Easter Michigan University, Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University, Madonna University, Michigan State University, Michigan Tech University, Oakland University, Saginaw Valley State University, University of Michigan, U-M Dearborn, U-M Flint, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University.