Meet the 2010 NCR College Going Culture Award Winners
Surrattsville High School in  Prince George’s County, MD  and Renaissance Academy in Baltimore, MD

2010 NCR College Going Culture Award Winners

Surrattsville High School- Prince George’s County, MD

The educators and Peer Leaders of Surrattsville High School set goals for themselves in order to build college-going culture in their school. They made a commitment to support the entire senior class with the process of creating a post secondary plan; create activities for College Summit Peer Leaders to share their experiences; and to generate interest in the College Summit program. They implemented a number of activities over the school year to meet these goals.

The Peer Leaders created the “Don’t Blow It” campaign, where Peer Leaders and educators helped seniors search for colleges, download college applications and receive help completing them, revise and create resumes, and draft personal statements during an after school help session. The Peer Leaders creatively promoted the activity by handing out flyers to seniors with Blow Pop lollipops attached. The school held monthly senior class meetings, where representatives from colleges, universities and technical schools were invited to give informational sessions for the seniors. During Fantastic Fridays, held every other Friday in the Senior Lounge, the Guidance Department, the College Summit Coordinator and the Peer Leaders, worked together to bring in college and military representatives for mini college fairs. A number of schools that attended Fantastic Fridays offered some students on the spot acceptance. The school also implemented a FAFSA Workshop for over 100 parents.

Surrattsville Peer Leaders created the “Listen Up” campaign, where they visited underclassman classrooms and spoke to them about the college application process and their own experiences. Each week, the school elected a College Summit Scholar of the Week, recognizing a student in the College Summit Class who was performing well with prizes, their picture in the main lobby, and recognition on the school’s morning television program, “Surrattsville Live.” The Peer Leaders showed their pride in the College Summit program by marching in the Homecoming parade, chanting and holding a College Summit banner. The buzz created by this resulted in parents and students asking about the program and wanting to know how they can become involved. Surrattsville educators and staff also showed their pride in their college achievements by writing about their college experiences, wearing their college shirts, and answering students’ questions during “Ask Me About It” Day. Surrattsville High School has succeeded in creating meaningful dialogue amongst students, educators and parents, and in creating college-going culture in their school.

Renaissance Academy- Baltimore,  MD

Last year Renaissance was named one of College Summit-NCR’s College Going Culture Award winners. They celebrated their success briefly, but then rolled up their sleeves and challenged themselves to do better. They decided on a theme to inspire them during the 2009-2010 school year- “365 Days of College.”  They decided to breathe, think and live college, and created school-wide goals and initiatives to accomplish their college going culture goals.

Renaissance created a College Summit Peer Leader & Advisor & Parental Support Group and held four financial aid workshops for students and parents, which was mandatory for seniors and open to 9-11^th graders. Each parent was given a number of resources which guided them through the financial aid and college application process. The result of these efforts was Renaissance being one of only 17 schools in the district with a 100% FAFSA completion rate. The school increased the number of AP courses available to students from 1 to 4, and created a partnership with Baltimore City Community   College to expose their students to collegiate courses and to give them a jump start. The school effectively used their Peer Leaders, and alumni who are current college students, for multiple speaking engagements for their peers and underclassmen. Renaissance also provided many leadership training opportunities to their students and brought in a number of motivational speakers. The College Summit students at Renaissance created a Collegiate Cohort Pact, in order to ensure that they each of them successfully followed through on every step in the college application process, and to provide encouragement and support. Students, for example, called each other to arrange to go to SAT testing centers together. And one of the school’s math instructors also implemented a SAT Boot Camp.   

The motto of Renaissance Academy is “Excellence is the Expectation.” Renaissance is committed to educating the whole child, with the expectation that they will further their education post secondary school. The work they have done this year has lived up to this motto.