By: Erik Pedersen, Content Strategy Director

BALTIMORE – Notre Dame of Maryland University’s School of Education played a leading role in increasing awareness about the college application process to teachers and students at three area high schools during the spring semester.

The Focus on College Understanding and Success (FOCUS) initiative, funded by a $102,000 grant from the Maryland Higher Education Outreach and College Access Program, aimed to increase the number of underrepresented students who enter and complete college programs. Twenty-seven juniors and six teachers participated in the program across three schools in the School of Education’s Professional Development School (PDS) partnership network – Western High School in Baltimore City, Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, and Long Reach High School in Howard County.

Throughout the semester, the students participated in six seminar sessions, co-led by their high school teachers and School of Education faculty, which discussed potential career paths, college access and selection, the application and admissions process, financial aid and scholarship opportunities, and college success strategies. Students at Woodlawn and Western also had the opportunity to visit Notre Dame and get a first-hand look at life on a college campus.

“Touring Notre Dame really helped increase my students’ interest,” said Lakisha Womack, a math and AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) teacher at Woodlawn. “They saw the importance of not just focusing on bigger schools, but realizing the benefits that attending a smaller school could provide. One of my students is also interested in going into nursing. Having the opportunity to visit Notre Dame’s nursing program, and speak with students and counselors on campus, was very helpful for her.”

“While the campus visit wasn’t written into the grant, it made a huge impact on the students,” added Dr. Stephanie Savick, professor in the School of Education and co-director of the FOCUS program. “It made everything that they were learning about in class more real to them. It was such a powerful add-on to the program.”

Sarah Emelike and Malachi Harrison were two of the students selected to take part in the FOCUS initiative at Woodlawn.

“The session focusing on academic advising was particularly impactful for me,” Emelike said. “It made me realize the importance of forming a bond with my advisor, and taking advantage of the knowledge they have to help guide me through the application process.”

“The biggest thing for me was learning about Naviance (a college, career, and life readiness platform),” Harrison added. “I learned how to use it to search for colleges, figure out what their requirements are, and ultimately apply. I really needed that information. These seminars gave me a great head start on my college search heading into my senior year.”

In addition to the afterschool seminars, teachers participated in professional development sessions, delivered by NDMU staff members, to increase their knowledge and understanding of the college experience. They were then able to take what they had learned and apply them to six college-readiness sessions, co-taught by Notre Dame faculty, in their regular classroom setting. Denise Rucker, a special education teacher at Western High School, taught those sessions to her ninth grade students along with Dr. Kristine Larson, assistant professor in the School of Education.

“Having the opportunity to instruct with a seasoned college professor was awesome,” Rucker said. “And my ninth graders were so invested and curious. They asked great questions. Through those classes, they have a much better understanding about what they need to do to attend college, and it also helped them understand that going to college really is attainable for them.”

At Long Reach, the sessions were presented in two different classrooms – a gifted math class and an entry-level Spanish class – allowing the initiative to reach a varied group of students from all grade levels.

“What I learned from this grant is that it takes a village of support from teachers, counselors, and outreach from universities to make these topics really tangible and understandable to the students,” said Dr. Molly Dunn, associate professor in the School of Education and the program’s other co-director. “Programs like FOCUS are important, not just for the 10 seminar students, but for everyone that it reached in the classroom. It keeps the goal of attending college in the front of their minds, and it emphasizes that you need to put pieces in place early to plan for it.”

Established in 1895, Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) is a private, Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland, with the mission to educate leaders to transform the world. Notre Dame has been named one of the best "Regional Universities North" by U.S. News & World Report.