COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education is pleased to announce the start of the College Application Month season. During the months of September through November, high schools across the state will host College Application events to assist students with the college application process. A complete schedule of events to be held across South Carolina, is available at www.sccango.org.
The goal of College Application Month is to provide a forum for all South Carolina seniors to complete and file college applications while receiving the assistance and resources they need to successfully access higher education. College admission personnel from our colleges and universities will assist in these local school events. This program has the opportunity to provide one-on-one college application assistance to over 48,000 high school seniors statewide with the potential to complete over 65,000 college applications.
St. John’s High School (SJHS) held one of the initial 2015 college application events on September 1, 2015. Andre Dukes, Principal at St. John’s High School stated, “St. Johns High School students had the advantage of working with 10 dedicated college admissions counselors representing colleges across the state who braved the flooded streets and traffic jams to be with our students as they took their first steps toward becoming citizens of the world by beginning the college admissions process. In addition, they had assistance from three St. John’s counselors, a GEAR UP counselor, and a member of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. Students were excited for the opportunity and will continue throughout the month to explore post-secondary opportunities. Approximately 90% of our senior class participated in the event.”
A current senior at SJHS, Daija Hammond stated, “The College Application Month event was a great experience. I loved how the college representatives took time with each of us to make sure we were completing the applications correctly. This experience gave us the opportunity to get a head start on applying for college. I applied to three colleges during my time with the college representatives. The application process was not as hard as I thought it was going to be thanks to the help I received. I hope that students next year will have the same opportunity to apply early to at least two colleges. I wish to thank all the college representatives who helped to make this a great experience. I wish to especially thank Mrs. Jenkins, our Guidance Counselor and Mrs. Miller, our GEAR-UP Graduation Coach for making this experience possible.”