What’s Right With Our Schools: College Quest at UTC

“So, College Quest is made for juniors and seniors in high school and their families to come find out about UTC specifically in Pre-health interest or engineering and computer science and technology interests. So these are students who tend to have aptitude in sciences, math, and are interested to figure out what are the potential pathways for the careers that they’re interested in taking,” Irene Hillman, Student Success Center Director said.

“Seeing all these other people’s opinions, people who go here and uh it’s pretty neat to see everything and hear from people who actually go here and see when, when I’ll be here how it’ll be,” Jude Greiner, Megatronics School at VW said.

“We found a lot of students are really weighing their options a lot earlier. A lot of students are also taking a lot of dual enrollment and an AP credit. And so, especially for my students um that are going into professional health care, the taking of certain classes, taking too many classes really can um cause a disadvantage more than an advantage. And so, we want students to understand those things. But we also want students to understand that where they pick to go to undergrad is really going to set them up for success in their future. And they’re thinking about it earlier. So we’re we’re talking about it earlier,” Theresa Blackman, Pre Health Student Services Assistant Director said.

“Um I think it gives me a lot of advantages, you know, just like so I can understand how the school will be, you know, what it entails and everything. So I don’t know. It’s pretty cool. I like it,” Greiner said.

“And so we really want to set students up for success. Um because for my students, we’re looking at 40 to 50% of people who apply nationally get in. And that’s steep competition. So we don’t just want to do what’s expected. We want to do above and beyond,” Blackman said.

“So, the College Quest presentations um help answer a lot of questions about, you know, what campus life is like. And um the things that new students could expect and uh the tools available to help them navigate them choosing what classes, maybe what, what their major should be. Um and then it also talks about like some of the resources available just for learning. Um, and I I think it’s been a great experience um, just to get comfortable with the school,” Maston Lyons, uncle, said.

“I hope that the parents get some level of relief. I know that it’s really hard. I have a teenager myself. Um, for the students, it is I hope that they walk away a little bit lit on fire in terms of I I get it. I get it now. I’m excited about what my next step is. Um, and I’m a little bit more confident about what my choices are. So that that’s what I hope I walk …they walk away with; is just a more positive and confident outlook on what their future and their college lives were going to look like,” Hillman said.