Classical program takes students to college

LYNN – A handful of Classical High School students have started their back to school shopping but they’re checking out colleges across the state, not clothes at the mall.”It’s a really good program,” said Social Studies teacher Dave Poland, who is chaperoning the trips. “They get to talk to counselors, they get out of the city.”The LCHS College Express program is designed to get students familiar with the college process and to give them a little taste of what a college campus is like, explained Guidance Counselor Shanna Comeau.Comeau said students meet for breakfast, pick up a packed lunch and board a bus headed, she hopes, for their future.According to the schedule students visited Boston and Emerson colleges Monday, Holy Cross and Framingham State Tuesday, and will hit up Northeastern University, The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, the University of Connecticut, UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, Mass Maritime and Merrimack College. They will also spend some time locally at North Shore Community College, Salem State University, Gordon and Endicott colleges.The program is free and Comeau said, for some students it represents their first venture outside the city. In some cases it also represents the first time the idea of going to college becomes a reality.Poland said this is the second year they have run the program and he is expecting a high turnout.”Last year we had maybe 110 to 120 kids in all,” he said. “This year we have a huge amount signed up but signing up and coming are two different things.”It is a wide range of students who attend as well, he added. Some students come for specific schools such as Mass Maritime or pharmacy but some will visit every school, Poland said.The reasons why they come are also varied, he said. Poland said there are students who have no access to cars or English is a second language so having others along makes it less intimidating.And although it’s only a year old, it also seems to be a successful program. Poland said they had a student attend last year who toured Gordon College and is now applying to attend.”It’s a great resource,” he said.Comeau said students also sometimes get a little inside info on the trips.”They get tours, they get information sessions and a lot of schools will tell them what they are looking for in the (application) essay,” she said.Poland said there are still a couple of slots open in the three-week program and it’s not too late for students to get on board. For more information call Comeau at 781-477-7409 or email Poland at [email protected].