Introducing the College Prep Club

Last Fall, student participants in the BetterGrads pilot eMentoring Program at Granada High (Livermore, CA) formed a new club on campus unlike any other. The College Prep Club was designed to encourage students - 2400 in all - to see college as an attainable goal.

Since its inception, the College Prep Club 2012 (with “2012″ signifying the year members will graduate from high school and begin college) has significantly improved the college-going culture on campus.

The College Prep Club has been involved in several college-themed activities, including SAT study sessions and College Planning “Expo” nights. Recently, students initiated the Pennant Project, for which club members collect pennants from Granada teachers’ alma maters and ask them about their experience there. The pennants will be displayed in the Granada High library and career center with the intent of further promoting college-going culture by connecting specific schools with students’ teachers.

As part of the BetterGrads Program, members are paired with a BetterGrads mentor, with whom they regularly communicate via phone calls, text messages, e-mails, video chats and monthly group calls with all mentors and mentees. Each month is dedicated toward learning about a different important aspect of college. Curriculum topics have included how to write resumes, how to evaluate which types of colleges are good fits, and, most recently, how to identify personal strengths in scholarship applications. A special series on the College 101 Blog entitled “Scholarship Stories” complemented last month’s curriculum.

For more information on the College-Prep Club 2012 and the BetterGrads eMentoring Program at Granada High, please read our latest press release (PDF). Visit our “Are we at your school?” page to bring the BetterGrads Program to your school today.