Chaperoned Carver students will soon board their chartered bus at the Carver Community Center for a life-changing road trip over their spring school break to the schools they aspire to attend.

The pandemic paused this epic annual Carver journey, but the now 50th Annual Spring College Tour is planned and coming back!

We will introduce high school students to the rigors and joys of a college education. School administrators, admissions and financial aid officers, college students including former Carver after-school and summer students, and others participate in the tours, make presentations and interact with the visiting Carver students. Whether asking questions, touring the campuses, or sharing meals with former Carver peers now excelling at these excellent schools, the goal is to motivate each visiting Carver student to envision their futures as successful college students. 

This year’s Spring College Tour begins on Sunday, April 17th, at 1:00 p.m. The Carver bus initially travels to Philadelphia, PA (3.5hrs) for two nights. On Monday, April 18th, at 10:00 a.m., the tour begins with Temple University (30 minutes away from the hotel) https://www.temple.edu. At 12:00 Noon, the tour will include visits to Liberty Bell and the Rocky Statue and Steps! On Tuesday, April 19th, at 10:00 a.m., the tour will move on to Delaware State University (1.5 hours travel) in Dover, DE https://www.desu.edu. At 2:00 p.m., the tour proceeds to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (2.5 hours travel) in Princess Anne, MD https://wwwcp.umes.edu. Then the group travels 2.5 hours to the next hotel. From there the group will on Wednesday, April 20th, tour Old Dominion University (30 minutes travel) in Norfolk, VA, http://www.odu.edu, stop for lunch, and then at 12:30 p.m., they will tour Norfolk State University (30 minutes travel), http://www.nsu.edu. Then the students will travel three hours to their next hotel. On Thursday, April 21st, the group will travel 30-minutes to Washington, D.C. to tour accessible sites of great importance and interest to the students. By 12:00 noon, the group will travel five hours back to Norwalk, CT.

Here are some of the reasons why our students love the Carver college tours (also each year we visit colleges in CT on election day).

1.     You won’t really know how you feel about a place until you’ve been there. A college catalog, view book, or website can only show you so much.

2.     The college information sessions and the campus tours will give you a much better idea of what the college is like and if you would be happy there.

3.     A small investment in time now can save significant time, money, and hassles during the during the college application period.

4.     You’ll get a sense of the college’s vibrancy, character, and facilities. Visits will provide you with a more complete picture.

5.     College tours allow students to ask questions, meet other prospective students and understand the college on a deeper level.

6.     How you feel about schools once you visit in person may affect the direction your college search and application process takes. College visits help you to refine your search.

7.     Applying to college is a complex process and visits to campuses will serve you best if you use them as a research tool, rather than a final decision-making aid.

8.     Time, energy and money are finite resources and you want to use them wisely throughout the application process. First-hand knowledge will help you to clarify your vision and narrow your list.

9.     Most colleges love students who are sincerely interested and visiting colleges is one way to show this.

10.  You want to be able to relax and make a fully informed choice once you have been accepted. If you’ve already visited those schools at least once, that’s just what you will be able to do.

Watch here on this Carver blog in April for reports from each of the colleges our students visit, written in their own words!