With more than 1,700 sixth- through 10th-graders admitted to the program in its first year, Rowan Crosby Scholars has been working to ensure each of its students are able to realize the benefit of graduating as a Crosby Scholar.
“We have over 480 10th-graders enrolled countywide, and they will make up our first graduating class of 2016,” explained Jennifer Canipe, executive director. “We want to make sure that they, and all of our scholars remember that there are requirements for staying in our program. Our hope is to be able to assist each Crosby Scholar with education beyond high school.”
One of the requirements for each Crosby Scholar is to attend one academy event per year. As a college access program, Rowan Crosby Scholars prepares students academically, financially and personally for post-secondary education. The academies are actually preparation workshops which provide students the opportunity to learn about topics like test-taking, time management, goal setting and communication skills. “We use our academies to help our scholars become better students and eventually better applicants within the college admission pool,” Canipe said.
While the majority of ninth and 10th grade academies were held in the fall, Rowan Crosby is holding a “Last Chance” academy for any leftover scholars who still need to attend a workshop. There are two academies scheduled on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. The events, scheduled at 2 and 6 p.m., will afford every scholar the chance to attend. “We want to give all of our high school Crosby Scholars every chance to stay in our program — we’ve scheduled these academies on a day the students are out of school and we hope to have 100 percent participation.”
In addition to the “make-up” high school academy on Jan. 22, Rowan Crosby will host seventh- and eighth-grade academies at RCCC on the following dates, 9–11:45 a.m. — Jan. 11, Jan. 25 and Feb. 1. Academies for sixth-graders will focus on goal setting and will be held in March at Catawba College.
For more information, or to sign up for an academy, please contact the Rowan Crosby Scholars office at 704-762-3512.