Start early.Get parents involved.Redefine “college.”Those are the tasks participants atan education forum believe are necessaryto increase the students whoseek education beyond high school.
The education forum, sponsored bythe Grant County College SuccessCoalition, took place this week atMarion’s Ivy Tech Community Collegeconference center. Communitymembers gathered to discuss the barrierskeeping local students fromseeking additional education afterhigh school and what activities couldbe started to assist those students.
“It has to be a partnership betweencommunity, school leaders and parents,”said Jean Taylor, an administratorat Marion’s Ivy Tech campus.Taylor also said that planting theseed of post-secondary educationearly is important. She said studentsneed to be told that they can go tocollege even though they might comefrom at-risk backgrounds.
Made possible by the state’s LearnMore Indiana partnership, the localCollege Success Coalition is part of acomprehensive effort to increase thepercentage of Hoosiers who attendcollege and complete a college certificateor degree within four years.
Martha Miller, Grant County LiteracyCouncil, said youths need to beshown the importance of going toschool and then continuing on tocollege. And they need to hear frompeople in the workplace.
Lezlie Winter, director of curriculumat Mississinewa CommunitySchools, said that we need to changethe attitudes of parents before we canchange the attitude of the child.Many parents, she said, are not involvedin their children’s schoolsbecause they are intimidated byschools in general.
“We need to create a nonthreateningenvironment where parentsare comfortable working witheducators,” she said.
Discussion at the forum also focusedon the definition of a collegeeducation, and that post-secondaryeducations can range from specializedtraining in a skilled trade to afour-year degree and beyond.
“We will always need people to be trained in skills,” said Joselyn Whitticker,newly-elected member of theMarion City Council. “They justneed some kind of training so theyhave a good job.”
Debbie Dailey, Director of Guidance at Mississinewa High School, suggested a database of individuals able to speak to schools about their jobs and include all kinds of careers in the database, not just ones that require four-year degrees.
The next coalition meeting will beat 6 p.m. January 12 at the MarionIvy Tech campus. Dave Murray of The National Center for CollegeCosts will present information aboutthe College Costs Estimator, a toolfor students to estimate the cost ofcollege and available financial
