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KEARNS — Most middle schoolers — in fact, 90 percent —will tell you they want to go to college. But when it comes right down to it, fewer than 60 percent actually do. The state is trying to change that by giving high schoolers a hand in the application process.
The goal of Utah College Application Week is to provide high school seniors at partner schools the opportunity to complete at least one viable college or university application during the school day. The program focuses on students who would be the first in their families to attend, low-income students, or students who may not have otherwise considered applying.
The Kearns High library was full of seniors last week, all of them like Fau, Victoria, Susana, and Austin — each one of them excited for what the future holds.
For Kearns High senior Fau Kuma it was a big day. "Today I applied for college, my first time and it felt good."
For Victoria Alofipo it's one step closer to the real adult world. "I'm excited to just be independent and be on my own," she said.
The library held nervous seniors, too, like Susana Kaufusi. "I'm nervous. I've been nervous all week and last week, but it was a lot easier than I expected. I thought it was going to be a longer and harder process but it was pretty straight forward."
There were also hopes for a future generation, like Fau Kuma, to do better than the last. "I hope to go to college and get everyone proud of me and just have a better future."
There were dreams for Kearns senior, Austin Taylor, to build on his EMT skills. "I'm looking into medicine, I really like the Emergency Room. I'm in the EMT class at Granite Technical Institute right now, so I kind of want to continue that."
For some of the high school seniors, college is a big deal for them and their families. For many like Susana Kaufusi, they will be the first in their family to attend college. "I would be the first. I'm happy that we have class time to apply. If I did it on my own, it would be a lot harder to get started."
College is also an important goal for the state of Utah. Lt. Governor Spencer Cox said it is vital for the future of our economy.
"We have a lot of really great jobs in Utah that we can't fill right now because we don't have the educated workforce," said Cox. "So we need to start young and start early to help them prepare for higher education."
Last year, Kearns High was one of eight pilot schools for the "College Application Week" program. It was such a success last year, Lt. Governor Cox says this year the state has 49 schools participating in the program.
"We hope to have 20,000 college applications. It's a huge deal. [The participating schools] had 82 percent of the senior class last year apply for college because of this program."
College Application Week also helps students look at ways to finance college, either through financial aid programs or scholarships.
