Seniors at Aliso Niguel participated in the schoolwide college and career support event, Challenge Accepted, on Oct. 22 and 23 during their English block period. This was a senior only event that Aliso Niguel hosted for the first year.
With college application deadlines coming up soon, seniors had the opportunity to get support with their college applications and future plans.
Seniors were given the option to choose which session they would like to attend. The options included UC and Cal State application support, community college application support, Common App, private, out-of-state application support or trade school and military options.
Counselors from different colleges, such as Cal State Fullerton, Grand Canyon University and University of the Pacific, came to help students learn more about the application process at their school and answer any questions.
At the trade school and military options session, seniors who don’t want to go the college path had the chance to learn about a different way of starting a career. Many students choose the UC and Cal State session or the private and out-of-state session.
Mrs. Nguyen, the College and Career counselor at Aliso Niguel, was able to help students set up their Common App and get started on their application.
Avery Reyes (12), who went to the UC and Cal State application session, says, “They provided us with helpful resources and information which made the process easier and less overwhelming.”
Some students were able to get their specific questions answered about the application process at Challenge Accepted and others saw the event as a chance to work on applications.
“It gave us an opportunity to work on our Common App in a quiet environment with other students,” says Kendall Hwang (12), who attended the private and out-of-state session.
Seniors were able to get exposed to colleges and opportunities in colleges that they didn’t know about. Challenge Accepted was intended to help all seniors, but specifically seniors who needed help with starting this stressful process.
Maddy Denny (12) says, “I thought Challenge Accepted was helpful because I was able to get started on my applications and have help on this process because no one in my family has gone through this process before.”
At Aliso Niguel, students have many resources to get help with college and career planning, like visiting the College and Career Center on campus. Challenge Accepted was another useful resource that was specifically designed to help seniors who are currently in the process of applying for college and planning their futures.
“Challenge Accepted was helpful for me and I would recommend it for upcoming seniors next year,” says Andreanna Javing (12), who went to the community college session.
Each session of Challenge Accepted was meant to give students more information on a college and career path that they were interested in learning more about.
Challenge Accepted was a successful event that benefited many seniors this year and should be an annual event that is available for seniors in the future.
