Pictured: Deborah Worley, Melissa Swenson and John Brooks, counselors at Carbon High hold up a full pennant board that denotes the weeks activities for students who filled out college applications during last years event.
Carbon School District Press Release
Carbon High School will participate in Utah College Application Week, sponsored by the Utah System of Higher Education, during the week of Nov.14-20, 2017.
As part of Utah’s college access initiative, Carbon High will work with its seniors on Tuesday, Nov. 14 to complete and submit at least one college application. On Monday, Nov. 20, families are invited to attend the FAFSA Completion night at Carbon High School from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The goal of the program is to get more students applying to Utah’s colleges early in their senior year. During this event, students may apply to any of Utah’s community colleges and public universities in which they are interested.
Melissa Swenson, Utah College Application Week event Site Coordinator for Carbon High School, expects more than 160 seniors to participate with the help of several volunteers from school staff, administration, college and community resources. CHS hopes to see representatives from most of the in-state colleges to participate on that Tuesday.
“Last year, Carbon High School had over 140 seniors who participated in UCAW and completed 433 college applications,” said Swenson. “That, combined with the student’s academic achievements brought in over $1.5 million in scholarships from seven in-state schools (that reported) to students from the Class of 2017. Our hope is to increase participation, applications completed and scholarship monies for the Class of 2018.”
Last year out of 189 seniors, 145 participated in the effort.
This initiative is part of the American College Application Campaign (ACAC), a national initiative that is an effort of the American Council on Education (ACE). Utah joined ACE in 2013. In 2014, all states had a College Application Campaign. Utah College Application Week (UCAW) gives every high school senior in participating schools the opportunity to apply to college during the school day. UCAW is coordinated by the Utah System of Higher Education and is part of the American College Application Campaign (a national initiative of the American Council on Education), and focuses on first-generation and low income students who are less likely to apply to and enroll in college.
Last year, students from Carbon High received a total of $1,530,506 in scholarship money from seven in-state schools. The highest amount came from Southern Utah University where students got $573,672. Next was Dixie State University with $371,544. Then came Utah State University with $273,850, Snow College with $98,600, the University of Utah with $98,000, Weber State University with $93,000 and Brigham Young University with $21,840. These numbers do not include private scholarships or other individual efforts.
For more information, parents and students can contact Swenson at (435) 613-4239 or email her at swensonm@carbonschools.org.