For more than 50 years, the Shawnee Mission College Clinic has helped high school students and their parents by giving them the chance to speak with college representatives across the country. This helps students in all grades get a better look on what pathway they will be able to take when it comes to their lives after they graduate high school.
This year’s clinic will be at East High School on Wednesday, October 16, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The list of schools is on http://www.shawneemissioncollegeclinic.com/ where it says ‘Click here to see a full list of colleges and universities registered to attend’.
“It is close to 150 schools from across the nation that will be here to present students and families with information regarding college attendance at their school,” Co-Chairman of the college clinic and PTA mother Anne Smith said. “We have a college guide that we will give them when they walk in the door, which is free and it has a lot of information.”
Smith also said that the brochures also talk about everything as far as costs, the ACT/SAT, housing and tuition. This event is not just for SM East students, but is for everyone in the district.
“There are a few presentation rooms, but it is mainly tables set up in both gyms that we have,” Smith said. “There will be a presentation schedule given to them when they walk in the door, so if the school of their choice is presenting, they can go to those.”
SM North counselor Deanna Griffey said that posters are put up around SM North to let students know about the event, but that she doesn’t know why it has been lackluster in the past few years.
“I think it’s mainly because everything is electronic now,” Griffey said. “We haven’t gotten anything electronic to send to students, which means that the reminder to let students know is hard for us.”
Griffey said that she thinks kids should absolutely attend this event because it gives students an opportunity to see schools across the country and figure out where they want to go, if they don’t know already.
“Students can get a lot of information,” Griffey said. “Colleges have virtual tours, thanks to the internet, so that’s great. I think it’s a positive as well, but doing a face-to-face is definitely better.”