Jim McCorkell

The big day is nearly here!  The Year-End Graduation Celebration is one of my favorite College Possible events. With guest speakers, prizes, school videos, and speeches from coaches and students, it is an incredibly powerful day. But, most importantly, it’s a time for us to come together as an organization to celebrate the accomplishments of our students and to cheer them on as they take a big step forward in their futures. It’s an opportunity to recognize our coaches and their tireless dedication to both their students and to closing the achievement gap. Also, it’s a chance to thank our community...

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Chelsey TulgrenSenior Coach,Twin CitiesFinding OptimismIf we weren’t already very close, we became even closer when Raymond came into my office at the start of the school year and told me that he didn’t have a place to sleep that night.  It didn’t feel like my student had just told me he was homeless; it was like my child had just revealed that their world was unraveling.  That day, every homeless shelter I called was past capacity.  I struggled to keep it together as I connected with his counselor, social worker, case worker, Ramsey County Human Services, teachers, friends, past foster care...

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Abigail MailsSenior Coach, Twin Cities During College Possible (then Admission Possible) graduation of 2011, one of the Harding Senior Coaches, Mitch, gave an unforgettable speech. In it, he retold a story that he had told his students on their first day together, it goes like this: A man is walking down the street, when he falls into a ditch. He tries to get out, but can’t. He calls for help, and though people stop and try to help from the street, no one can.  Finally, a neighbor comes by and jumps right in the ditch. “What are you doing??” said the first man, “now we’re both stuck down here...

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fabiandd93

When it comes to applying to colleges, you apply to as many as possible. You hope that most reject you so you won’t have to make the hard decision, but life might not work in your favor. What if they all accept you? You can’t go to them all, so what do you do then? Some people already have a specific college they would like to attend and with luck they’ll be able to. Now, for all the people who don’t end up at their dream school, I’ll be here to talk to you. Let’s start off with applying: it’s a long process in which you decide how far you want to live from your home, the type of environment...

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Pa LorConsortium AmeriCorps Member, National College Possible Twin Cities juniors recently attended the Consortium Fair on Saturday, April 28th. It was a great opportunity for students to learn more about additional college options outside of Minnesota. Students really enjoyed learning more about the colleges represented – some of which they’d never even heard of before – but most of all students enjoyed getting to know the reps and having one-on-one conversations with them. From the college presentations to the college fair to the dance party and the raffle, everyone enjoyed themselves! Here’s...

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Laura SchabloskeExecutive Director, College Possible Omaha On May 10, 2012, College Possible Omaha held our first annual End-of-Year Celebration at Stinson Park in Aksarben Village, marking the end of a year of firsts for College Possible’s newest site. This year, we recruited our first College Possible Omaha cohorts at two area high schools, Benson High School Magnet and Omaha South High Magnet School. As a result of College Possible’s intensive curriculum of coaching and support and their own hard work, juniors in our high school program completed their first real ACT exams on April 14th...

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Kelly Yuen

As the Communications VISTA, I am currently experiencing one of the greatest College Possible adventures - that is, planning the year-end celebration! And although we are not celebrating college acceptances or scholarship awards this year, we still are celebrating a whole lot! Our juniors have worked extremely hard and have achieved so much in such a short amount of time with College Possible. Here are a few things that College Possible Omaha and its students have to cheer about at the year-end celebration: Taking three practice tests and the Real Deal ACT Submitting summer enrichment opportunity...

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Jaleesa Joy, Senior CoachRiverside University High School, Milwaukee Graduation is just as nerve-wracking and exciting for us Corps members as it is for the students! I am so proud of my 35 wonderful students and what they have accomplished already and I just know that many more accomplishments are to come. Graduation is a time to just breathe and reflect on this entire process of College Possible, from junior year to now. It's a chance for my seniors to acknowledge that their hard work has paid off; they can say, "This is where I am going! This is what I worked 2 years for!" It's a chance...

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Hannah WrobelEvents AmeriCorps Member, MilwaukeeGraduation is the final event that I will be planning and executing during my term of service as the Events AmeriCorps Member for College Possible Milwaukee. This is incredibly bittersweet. When I think about the 15+ events that I have planned over the past 8 months, each and every one of them has had their own unique challenges and rewards, whether it be M.I.A baseline ACT test booklets or students remarking how “at home” they feel on a college campus. I have learned so much throughout my time as the Events AmeriCorps Member: late buses are a...

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Sarah RowcliffeSenior Coach, Twin CitiesMy Top 5 Favorite College Possible Moments:5) Seeing a student not-so-discreetly fist-pump after getting a question right during ACT preparation.4) While filming our graduation video, watching students who never usually interact work, laugh, and be creative together! 3) That first acceptance letter. What an accomplishment!2) The "I WON A SCHOLARSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" text message. (Which usually is followed by my response: "OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .....Which one?!") 1) Receiving a sincere "Thank You, Sarah!" (Not every student says...

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