Last month, Adelphi University hosted more than 80 high school students as part of its annual Summer Pre-College Program. Students came from as nearby as Garden City and as far as Illinois, California, Turkey and Burkina Faso to earn college credits and gain college preparedness and life skills.
Adelphi’s Summer Pre-College Program, which ran from July 9 through July 29, offered courses taught by Adelphi faculty in subjects such as art, business, computer science, nursing, psychology and biology. The program allowed all participants to earn 3 college credits.
Students who took the Introduction to Nursing and Science, Medicine and Society classes became certified in CPR by the American Heart Association. Science, Medicine and Society students also participated in STOP THE BLEED, a program by the American College of Surgeons that teaches people how to help in a bleeding emergency.
Kattiria Gonzalez, PhD, assistant professor in the Adelphi University College of Nursing and Public Health, who taught the Introduction to Nursing course, arranged a panel discussion featuring working and retired nurses in a number of specialties to showcase the variety of roles that nurses occupy.
“Pre-College is a great opportunity for high school students to get a sneak peek into the daily life of a college student as well as what college-level courses would look like for a specific major,” said Dr. Gonzalez.
In addition to the accredited courses, the students took part in college preparedness workshops, known as College 101. This year’s topics included college budgeting, a résumé writing guide and a two-part workshop on writing their college application essay.
The students also had the chance to experience life as an undergraduate and learn valuable skills in time management, independence, punctuality and the ability to live with a roommate if they chose to live on Adelphi’s Garden City campus during the program. Outside of class time, they were invited to attend professor and teaching assistant office hours, social activities and college readiness workshops.
Outside of class time, the students enjoyed on-campus social events such as an ice cream social, a tie-dye night and a final Pre-College “prom.” Off campus, they took excursions to a Broadway show in New York City, a Long Island Ducks game and had an opportunity to give back to the local community through sponsoring a meal at the Mary Brennan INN soup kitchen in Hempstead.
All past summer pre-college participants are given a fee waiver to apply to Adelphi in the future and, should they be admitted and attend, automatically qualify for the Adelphi Advantage Award: a $1,000 per year scholarship that is renewable up to four years.