Earlier this year, we had our most successful bi-annual parent engagement meetings hosted at two partner high schools in our respected Orange County and San Diego County regions. Over 200 parents attended the meeting(s) where presentations were customized by our Program Coordinators to fit our junior and senior scholars needs.
The junior presentation featured topics like the importance of fly-in programs, college tours, and summer productive programs. They also had an opportunity to review the Simon Scholar college partner list and get a quick glimpse into what their busy summer writing sessions entailed.
The senior presentation focused on important topics that would help with making their final college decisions. One of the components of the presentation highlighted, How to read a financial aid letter, Differences between the flexible and fixed cost of attendance, and the different types of federal and state aid.
The presentation also showcased an important section on Transitioning from high school to college which emphasized the importance of having a support system when our scholars moved on to attend their college of choice. This support system would help alleviate a lot of the fears that many of our first-generation college students possess.
Below is a testimonial from Adriana Gomez (Samueli Academy Parent):
1. How has this parent engagement meeting impacted you or your family?
“It helped me understand the amount of colleges my child will be applying to and the differences between private and public colleges.”
2. Is there anything different that you learned in the parent engagement meeting that you didn’t know before?
“I learned about Fly-in programs and how some of them are free and others have a cost. I also learned that students should be proactive and contact colleges to demonstrate interest.”
3. Have these meetings sparked any deeper conversation about college?
“Yes, we now have more open discussions on what he wants to study, where he would like to go to college and where he is interested in applying.”
4. From a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest grade to 10 being the highest), what would you rate this last parent meeting? Also, would you recommend it to other future scholar families?
“Most definitely a 10 because everything is clearly explained and if there are any questions, the coordinators answer in-depth. They are 100% recommended by me.”
5. Do you have any additional comments?
“I would like to say thank you to the Simon Scholars Program for supporting, inspiring, and teaching our children that they have a bright future ahead of them.”
