Bluefield State College is partnering with College Summit, a major national initiative to improve college enrollment, to ensure that more West Virginia students who can make it in college actually make it to college.

Bluefield State College will host a four-day College Summit summer workshop June 29 – July 2, with 40 to 50 rising seniors from West Virginia high schools invited to participate. College Summit plans to host eight workshops on West Virginia college and university campuses this summer.

“We’re proud to partner with Bluefield State College on this initiative to help more West Virginia students enroll in college,” said Randy Shillingburg, Executive Director for College Summit West Virginia. “ Bluefield State is firmly committed to ensuring that more college-capable West Virginia youth actually enroll in college.”

“In West Virginia, we have so much potential talent that remains uncovered,” commented Sarita A. Johns-Gattuso, executive director of the West Virginia Access Center for Higher Education (W#VACHE). “Our mid-tier students just need someone who cares, someone who believes in them, and someone who will provide accurate information regarding access to college. West Virginia College summit is the capstone for the WVACHE program, helping those students who didn’t previously recognize they are college material to realize that they, too, can go to college and be successful.”

According to Shillingburg, College Summit helps to put college within the reach of every student through a comprehensive system that includes intensive summer workshops for up to 20 percent of a participating high school’s senior class, a step-by-step curriculum to lead remaining students through the high school-to-life transition process during their senior year, and on-line tools to help students and school personnel manage the transition process for all seniors.

“At the Bluefield State College workshop, students will complete an on-line application, receive quality one-on-one college counseling and complete a personal statement they can use for scholarships or as an entrance essay for college,” Shillingburg said. “College Summit inundates these workshop students with resources, such as writing coaches, mentors and trained counselors, in order to instill in them the belief that they indeed are ‘college material,’ while providing them with the information and knowledge to enroll in college.”

Shillingburg said that 79 percent of students across the nation who attend College Summit summer workshops have enrolled in college, nearly doubling the enrollment rate for these students; the college retention rate for these students has been 80 percent.

“The entire college transition process can be overwhelming for students, especially first generation college students,” he said. “In fact, research has shown that students from the lowest-income families who make A’s on standardized tests in high school enroll in college at almost the same rate as students from the most affluent families who make D’s on standardized tests. Clearly, there is a gap between high school and college for low-income students, not only in West Virginia, but across America. College Summit is working to bridge this gap between high school and college for all students.”

Earlier this year, College Summit was one of only 25 non-profits selected to receive the 2006 Social Capitalist Award from Fast Company, a leading business magazine. In receiving this award, College Summit was named by the magazine as “one of the top 25 groups that are changing the world.”

June 26, 2006