Taking Our Programs Virtual
At College Now, many of the programs we run for high school students are after-school, in-person programs designed to prepare students for life after high school. One of our most well-known programs is impact!, a standardized test-prep program that helps students prepare for the ACT, SAT, or PSAT and also exposes them to all aspects of the postsecondary journey, including college visits, a career exploration project, and more.
With school, community center, and library closures during COVID19, College Now was able to continue all portions of instruction, youth development, family engagement, and partner collaboration as originally outlined for the impact! program with the following modifications:
- In-person reading, math, and college & career instruction transitioned to College Now’s Online Learning Platform, Moodle, and to Microsoft’s conferencing call platform, Teams.
- College & Career visits transitioned to Virtual College & Career Tours.
- Family Nights will take place virtually to provide updates on student progress; families will receive weekly communications about support services (health, education, meals) within the community.
We enrolled 323 students in this spring’s impact! cohort, well above the original goal of 213. With the virtual program, we are reaching an additional 20 schools not previously served by the program this year (represented by 56 students!).
