McCaskey Campus seniors are working on hundreds of college applications this week, and Thursday they received some encouragement from two high-profile political leaders.
It’s College Application Week, and Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera and Lancaster City Mayor Danene Sorace dropped in on McCaskey East to meet with students and share their own college application experiences.
“Starting at Penn State changed my life,” Rivera told the students, admitting he was “just good enough to survive” as a high school student in Philadelphia. But one of his school counselors encouraged him to prepare for the SAT and apply for college.
“That was the start of building a relationship.”
Like nearly half of the students working on applications, Sorace was a first-generation college student.
“Once you have that education, no one can take that away from you,” she said. “I truly believe McCaskey students are the best reflection of our city.” The mayor issued a proclamation declaring Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 College Application Week in the city.
During that time, every McCaskey senior is excused from class for one period to spend time working with counselors on completing the common application, filling out the FAFSA and preparing any unique application materials requested by specific colleges. On Thursday, a representative from Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology assisted students applying to the highly-rated technical college.
“Every student deserves access to higher education, and we want to ensure all students have that opportunity available to them,” said Dr. Jeremy Raff, SDoL’s coordinator of College and Career Services. “Our goal is for every one of our seniors to have started their journey to post secondary education by the end of this week.”
Learn more about the Department of Education’s Pennsylvania College Application Campaign (PCAC) at the link below.