Port St. Lucie High School’s College and Career Readiness Night in the fall drew almost 400 students and parents. Photos courtesy of Port St. Lucie High
Florida College Access Network (FCAN) and the American College Application Campaign (ACAC) are proud to announce Port St. Lucie High School is a recipient of the 2019 School of Excellence Award!
ACAC launched the School of Excellence Award to recognize schools across the country that are helping students achieve their postsecondary goals. Only one high school per state was recognized for this award, and Port St. Lucie High School was selected because of its demonstrated commitment to student success during FCAN’s Apply Yourself Florida college application campaign and timely submission of data.
This past fall, Port St. Lucie High School partnered with Indian River State College (IRSC) to host the school’s inaugural College and Career Readiness Night and College Application Day. About 400 students and parents participated in the College and Career Readiness Night, and about 89 students submitted applications to IRSC during College Application Day.
After the College Application Day, students still had questions about the college-going process. As a result, the schools collaborated again to implement several follow-up sessions for students to meet with representatives from IRSC throughout the school year. This provided students continuous support to ensure they had their questions answered and all the necessary steps were completed prior to starting at IRSC in the fall.
The College and Career Readiness Night was in response to Monica Brooks, a school counselor at Port St. Lucie High, noticing that a few of her students fell through the cracks in terms of college preparation and summer melt the previous school year.
“Port St. Lucie High School is a great example of leveraging strong partnerships to ensure students have the guidance and support they need throughout the college-going process,” said Laurie Meggesin, Executive Director of FCAN.
The schools receiving this award from across the country were part of a national effort organized by ACAC to help students navigate the college admissions process. According to ACAC, in 2019,:
- Nearly 7,300 high schools across the country hosted a College Application Campaign event.
- More than 763,400 seniors submitted at least one college application during events.
- More than 1.2 million college applications were submitted.
- At least 600 elementary schools, 540 middle schools, and 160 community-based organizations hosted college application events to help students learn about the college-going process.
Nationally, over 3.36 million students have been served by ACAC and 5.28 million applications have been submitted since it began in 2005.
The goal of ACAC and Apply Yourself Florida is to increase the number of first-generation students and students from low-income families who pursue a postsecondary education by assisting high school seniors as they navigate the college admissions process, ensuring each participating student submits at least one college application.
The top 10 fastest growing jobs in Florida all require degrees and certificates beyond high school. For Florida to build a resilient, recession-proof economy, the state needs to significantly increase the number of first-generation students and students from low-income families pursuing and completing education beyond high school, especially college degrees.
FCAN and ACAC congratulate Port St. Lucie High School for their efforts and contributions to this exciting national initiative and supporting the class of 2020 in their postsecondary endeavors!
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