Carver's 48th annual spring break college tour concludes at Six Flags Great Adventure!

Each spring break, chaperoned Carver students board their chartered bus at the Carver Community Center for a life-changing, road trip to the schools they aspire to attend. The 48th (2018) Annual Spring College Tour just introduced middle and high school students to the rigors and joys of a college education. School administrators, admissions and financial aid officers, college students including many former Carver YDP students, and others gave the tours, made presentations and interacted 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 a successful college student.

On their way home from this life changing experience, the college-bound Carver students visited Six Flags Adventure in New Jersey. Featuring hundreds of roller coasters, thrill rides and family attractions, Six Flags is one the biggest regional theme parks in the world! 

We're grateful they all survived the death defying rides at the park and are now back in Norwalk and more motivated than ever to be "lifetime achievers!" 

11th grader Dejanah Lorthe reports from Howard University on the spring break college tour

Howard University is an HBCU filled with many opportunities and is one of the most diverse colleges in the United States. Founded in 1867, by Oliver Otis Howard, the predominantly African American school has six schools that comprise various majors like biology, communications, Afro-American studies, and chemical engineering. To get into this prestigious university, you must have a weighted GPA of a 3.2 or higher and have at least a score of 1080 on the SATs and a 24 on the ACT. Tuition for Howard is $40,000 a year. This fee includes boom, board, and most of the other expenses on campus. When applying to Howard University, you are entered into a scholarship pool to determine if you're qualified for receive funds to go the school. Howard University believes cultivating community is important and they want individuals who are willing to give back. It's best to start getting involved within your community and in your high school.

Campus life at Howard is usually live with music, step shows, parties, and special events as well. "The Yard" is the hangout spot for all students where most of the fun happens. One fun fact about Howard University is the rapper, and entrepreneur P. Diddy attended Howard but did not graduate. Howard University is a school where \ you can find who you really are, and it's also a place that I can call home within the next year. Visiting this particular school made me fall deeper in love with it, and it motivated me to continue to push harder in high school and to strive only for greatness and never settle for average.

Dejanah Lorthe
11th Grade Brien McMahon

Carver students on the spring break College Tour visit Georgetown and Howard Universities today!

11th graders Sky Simmons & Areyona Patterson write about the college tour of Georgetown!

Georgetown University is a private university located in Washington DC and was founded in 1789. There are 4,523 students enrolled in the university. Georgetown is considered an Ivy League college which means they have high academics and high prestige. The mascot is “Jack The Bulldog” who has the colors of grey and blue. Their mascot is a bulldog, but not any normal mascot as you would imagine. Jack, the bulldog, is an actual living bulldog! Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see him and pet him, but it’s quite fascinating that that’s their mascot. There are many exciting things might grab your attention around campus. There's a seal in the middle of a walkway that you are not allowed to step on, and if you're superstitious, you'll believe that its bad luck for anyone who does so. We made sure we walked passed it though.

The school has a religious affiliation with Catholic which would be an attraction for anyone who is Catholic. Over 50% of these students study abroad which is excellent because it opens students’ minds to different cultures so they will be able to compare to the United States of America. There are more than 150 different study abroad programs in different countries. Those who decide to pick the Global Health major are required to pick a country and study abroad. 

The general requirements for admission to the school is a GPA of 3.9-4.4, an average SAT score of 1590, and an average ACT score of 30-35. The university offers scholarships and mentorship as well. The average GPA at Georgetown is 4.03; this makes it a very competitive university. The acceptance rate is 17%, and the graduation rate is 94% within six years. This school offers more than 200 co-curricular clubs and activities on campus. All students are required to take general education courses. 90% of students do internships, and there are many around campus jobs available to the students. 

Students are allowed to live in loft-style apartments which include kitchens and single bathrooms. They offer single rooms, doubles, and even triples! Not all schools have study rooms that you can reserve, so the fact that Georgetown does is a huge plus! I recommend this school to anyone who takes an interest in the things we've reported for you! 

Sky Simmons & Areyona Patterson
11th Grade Norwalk High School

10th graders Ashanti Washington & Summer Hall write about the college tour visit to Coppin State University

Coppin State University is a HBCU looking for hardworking, dedicated students. The university has a very diverse student population who come from various states such as New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The average requirement for acceptance into the school is a 2.5 GPA, 930 SAT score and an 18 ACT score. Coppin State also provides the Coppins Honors Program which allows students to obtain a bachelors degree in 3 years rather than 4. They require a 3.0 GPA, 1080 SAT score, and a 22 ACT score for acceptance. 

Coppin State recommends that its students live on campus to build relationships with teachers and other students, especially their freshman year. Coppin State is not interested in becoming a big school; they would instead remain on the smaller side of the school population. A plus about CSU is that they are an NCAA division 1 school for sports. Men sports include basketball, football, tennis, track and field, etc. The women sports that the school provides is basketball, bowling, tennis, and softball. They also have clubs that are less competitive and do not compete with NCAA divisions which included soccer, lacrosse, and powderpuff. 

Overall, Coppin State University is a beautiful school and everyone on campus was friendly. If you're looking for a medium sized HBCU, this is a great choice!

Ashanti Washington & Summer Hall
10th Graders @ Brien McMahon High School

11 grader Carla Romeus writes about her visit to Salisbury University on the Carver college tour

Salisbury University was founded in 1924 and offers 43 majors and 65 minors including four schools: Fulton, Henson, Perdu, and Seidel. Each school has different subjects to study for each major for example; Perdue is the school of Business, Henson is the school of Science and Technology, Fulton is the school of Liberal Arts and Seidel is the School of Education. 

Perdue is the School of Business, which was named after Franklin Perdue the Founder of Perdue Chicken. The building was constructed to mimic the type of architecture in the business world. On the inside, there are huge screens with live stock updates going by as fast as the ones on Wall Street in New York City! A large TV greets you once you walk in with news from many different news channels such as CNN and Bloomberg. In the lobby there's also have Perdue's head on display.

In the same building, there's an office called the Innovation and Entrepreneurship office. The School of Business hosts events like Gull Cage, which is a parody of Shark tank where the students go in with ideas and get people to support their ideas and give them that loan they need to jump-start their idea or product. Mark Cuban even came to the university and sat through some of the business ideas and approved of the program.

The class sizes at Salisbury University have a ration of 17:1 and last up to two and a half hours. On the university’s websites allow students to filter through options to determine which classes are better for you during specific times and days of the week. 

As we walked through campus, you can sense the joy the students have while attending the university. There are so many opportunities and activities for students to enjoy such as the spin bikes that students can rent for only fifty cents a ride, S.O.A.P. (Student Organized Activity Program), volleyball courts all around, volunteering opportunities and so much more. In the heart of the campus, you will find "the Quad" which is surrounded by residence halls for sophomores and the freshmen. "The Quad" is also where the university holds most of their parties and concerts. 

We continued walking past "the Quad," went into the gym which holds an Olympic sized Swimming pool, a weight room and a full basketball court with bleachers that can hold up to 9500 students. Salisbury has over 21 Division 3 teams, but they are most popular for there Lacrosse team who has won 2 years in a row. There are so many things to do in Salisbury, that's there's never a dull moment for the students because of the 120+ clubs, fraternities and sororities, and the pit in the library where you can hang out with your friends. 

Together with Sammy the Seagull, Salisbury University helps their students “Learn, Live, Lead.” 

Carla Romeus
11th Grade // Brien McMahon

Ayanna McCoy and Jurnee Gilchrist report from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Carver's annual spring college tour!

Exploring the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) – home of the Hawks
Ayanna McCoy and Jurnee Gilchrist

Nestled on nearly a thousand acres of land in the middle of what seems to be farm country is the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), home of the Hawks. As our bus driver Dave navigated his way to the student center, there were goats grazing and lines for an irrigation system with remanence of crops that were already harvested. It is evident that agriculture is a major part of the school offerings. It is also hard to believe that UMES is a short drive to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington D.C. We arrived to the words OPORTUNITY and DISTINCTION prominently etched on the student center building. We learned of Jasmine Prezzie from Ms. Novelette. Jasmine was once a student on the Carver college tour, who fell in love with UMES. Jasmine enrolled and graduated from UMES. Jasmine is now pursuing a master’s degree from Fordham University. In Jasmine’s own words, “forever a Hawk”.

Even though the campus is on nearly a thousand acres of land, it is a walkable campus with only 48 buildings. There are no shuttles available or needed. UMES is a public Historically Black College and University that was founded in 1886 as a land-grant institution and has had many name changes over the years. Currently UMES has 3906 students enrolled. UMES has a warm and special feel. There is a 14 to 1 student to staff ratio. We were surprise to learn that UMES is a D1 school for athletics, however they do not have a football team. This has been the case since the 1960’s. There are 14 NCAA Division 1 intercollegiate teams and competes in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Ninety percent of UMES students qualify for financial aid.

In order to gain admission to the school you are required to have a 2.5 GPA, SAT scores of 930 and two recommendation letters. The out-of-state tuition is $27,671 per year and in-state tuition is $17,665 per year. What stood out for us was UMES’s strong academic support for students who need extra help, the friendly environment, and the opportunity for freshmen students to have cars on campus. We can actually see ourselves at this school. It’s very well maintained and welcoming. The school is a smaller school, it gives us a home away from home vibe. We have added UMES to our short list of colleges. We feel strongly that it is a hidden gem.

College Tour student report from Villanova from Kelete Sherald and Justin Forde, 11th graders at Brien McMahon High School

Justin Ford and Kelete Sherald

I am Justin Forde and my friend Kelete Sherald and I are honored to share our thoughts and experience on Villanova University as participants of Carver’s 48th annual college and members of the Youth Development Program. We are both eleventh graders at Brien McMahon High school – Go Senators!!! As basketball and track athletes we were thrilled to learn that Villanova was one of the schools selected as part of our annual college tour. We were even more excited when their men’s basketball team made it to the final four and then went on to win the NCAA title. As we arrived at the Connelly Center, we envisioned a chance to meet with members of the basketball team. We were out of luck. We did see members of the football team hustling to get students to sign up for bone morrow testing. We were also denied access to the basketball court due to renovations.

Villanova University is a Catholic college founded in 1842 and it is the home of the wildcats. If you are passionate, determined, and academically focused then Villanova is the university for you. Villanova is ranked #46 - Best Colleges 2018, #17 – Best Undergraduate Teaching College (U.S. News & World Report), #1 – Undergraduate Business School (Bloomberg Business Week). Villanova’s Naval ROTC program has produced 22 Navy Admirals and Marine Corps Generals (2nd only to the U.S. Naval Academy).

Admission to Villanova is very competitive, but if you are one of the chosen, you will have strong support from faculty and peers. Most recently, top applicants of Villanova, had a 4.0 to 4.4, a SAT score of 1360 to1600, or an ACT score of 31 to 36. You will be busy if you participate in one of the 265 extracurricular groups and activities on campus. Villanova also offers 44 clubs. Service and giving back is the DNA of this university. Students are required to participate in community service. There was only one issue that brought us pause and it was the lack of diversity among the student population. This would not be a hindrance for Villanova to make it to our list of schools, but it was a concern for a few of our peers.

We really enjoyed touring the campus of Villanova. The students were very friendly and shared time with us while they were in route to their classes. The mood was good and students are overjoyed with the recent men’s basketball championship. The campus store was loaded with championship merchandise, but the cost was a bit high for our budget. We were surprised to see all the merchandise delivered in such short notice. 

We really like Villanova and we came to the realization that the four years of high school are critical to your success in college. A solid transcript is your ticket to become a member of the Wildcats family.

Kelete Sherald and Justin Forde are 11th graders at Brien McMahon High School

Carver Spring Break College Tour Updates! Cardan Grant and Sandy Maxwell, 10th Graders @ Brien McMahon High School

Cheyney University was founded by Richard Humphreys, a Quaker, who donated $10,000 and one-tenth his property to create a school to educate individuals of African descent. The original Humphreys' home is still on campus the university is building a museum next to Humphreys home to honor and highlight its rich history as the oldest Historically Black College/University in the country. We learned the original family who lived on the grounds and owned slaves. At another point in history, the acres of Cheyney property was used during the underground railroad. The tunnels where slaves were taught to read and write, even though it was against the law, are still in existence today.

There are close to 1,000 students enrolled in the college, and the student-faculty ratio is 15 to 1. The small class sizes give every student an opportunity to know their professors and the administrative staff. For out-of-state students like us, the tuition for Cheyney University is a little over $14,000. There are 15 majors and 11 minors available to prospective and current students. Once admitted, Cheyney University works to support black students academically and financially. What we liked about Cheyney is that it is a predominately Black college, but it accepts other students of other races, too. The history of black people from previous generations associated with the university could be helpful for other students to study. 

The most exciting thing I learned while visiting Cheyney University was that there is a designated a part of the quad grass as “sacred ground.” NO ONE is allowed to walk on the grass unless it is graduation time. Another fun fact about Cheyney is that the university is very giving when it comes to the community. Sometimes during the day, the school allows people from the public to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner for free!! 

Cheyney University looks at their study body as a family, and that’s something that we want to experience when we begin college, a home away from home. We think that Cheyney University is a phenomenal school and will definitely look into it in the future. We would recommend this school to many of my peers in Norwalk.

Thank you, 
Cardan Grant//Sandy Maxwell
10th Graders @ Brien McMahon High School

Nyema Burnes and Sarah Caidor, 10th graders at Brien McMahon High School, report from Temple University

Prior to today, we knew very little about Temple University. We had envisioned a school that was surrounded by trees and with buildings that were two or three stories tall. Our first observation was the logo. The logo adorned several buildings as we traveled through the neighborhood. Temple University is a pretty big school and clearly a diverse school. Temple was founded in 1907 by Russell Conwell. Russell Conwell is described as American Baptist minister, lawyer, writer and philanthropist. 

Experiencing Temple firsthand is a must. You will discover their willingness to welcome graduating high school seniors, transfer students and international students. We learned that almost half of Temple’s incoming students are students who are transferring from other colleges. Temple is a city within a city. There are several perks for students, such as seeing a movie with snacks for $4.50, free transportation and access to the writing center.

Temple offers more than 140 majors ranging from medicine, law, business and education. Students hoping to gain admission to the honors program must earn a 3.9 GPA and a 1220 on the SAT. Students embrace the owl pride and have a common desire to be the best they can be. 

In-state tuition cost $15,000 and out-of-state tuition cost $25,000. There are more than 25,000 undergraduate students. This is 14 times the size of Brien McMahon’s school population. There are hundreds of organizations at Temple, which means there is something for everyone. Sharing your interest and getting involved with campus life will make your experience at Temple more fulfilling. Temple will definitely make it to our list, but we are eagerly awaiting the experiences that lie ahead from the other nine colleges.

Nyema Burnes and Sarah Caidor – 10th graders at Brien McMahon High School