College Prep Is More Than Just Being Prepared Academically

_{Zoe Edington, center, celebrates with friends after graduating from Aspire Langston Hughes Academy. By the time she graduated high school, Zoe had earned two associates degrees in addition to her high school diploma. (Photo courtesy Zoe Edington)}

RCEd Commentary

College preparedness isn’t just about academics. But do educators realize that?

It’s also about ensuring that students will be able to handle the major challenges they’ll face, from scheduling and fulfilling important requirements to overwhelming amounts of work and reading. 

I am an 18-year-old double minority student from Stockton, Calif., now at the University of California, Berkeley. I’ve never taken Advanced Placement courses, and had barely scored above-average on standardized tests. I was terrified, and I was well aware of what the statistics said about students like me. Sixty-two percent of Caucasian students get a degree within six years, versus 40 percent of blacks and 51 percent of Hispanics, according to the Department of Education. As both a Hispanic and black student, I wondered where I would fall in the equation.

I felt like a little fish in a big pond. I was a nervous freshman surrounded by students who had scored perfectly on the SATs, received international awards for their artistic talent, and won gold medals at the Olympics. 

I quickly realized, however, that the statistics didn’t apply to me. I was prepared for college, and not because I had perfect test scores or won gold medals. I had something else – social and emotional maturity – and that was something I was lucky enough to develop in high school.

“College for Certain” is the slogan for my high school, Aspire Langston Hughes Academy. One of the graduation requirements at Aspire Public Schools is to earn 15 units of college credit – normally five classes. Some students, including me, chose to challenge themselves by taking college classes every semester, every year. By the time I finished my senior year, I had a high school diploma and two associate degrees. While the additional academic units were a huge benefit to me as a freshman at UC Berkeley, it was the time and stress management skills I learned in community college that gave me the leg up and has allowed me to thrive at one of the top colleges in the country. 

When I started my classes at UC Berkeley this fall I was prepared for the intensity of the courses. Introduction to Neuroscience required three days of studying before the exams; Spanish required the practice of pronunciation and recitation for two hours every day; and Introduction to Greek Civilization involved about 200 pages of reading a week. I spent hours memorizing and understanding a variety of subjects, but it was easier for me because it was not completely unexpected. I already knew the difference between high school and college. I already had strategies to get my assignments done on time.

Managing high school and community college -- specifically making sure that I was on track to graduate from both -- gave me a better understanding of how to succeed in college. During my senior year of high school, I spent numerous hours in the counselor’s office at the community college so that I would fully understand their graduation requirements. Then at home I researched the courses that would fulfill the requirements, and the courses that would transfer to UC Berkeley. I also spent days strategizing my weekly schedule so that I could  manage driving to my high school and attending those classes, driving to the community college and attending those classes, and then driving back to high school for swim practice. When I finally graduated from school I had become an expert at managing time, conducting thorough research, and planning for the future.

I was unaware of how many skills I had acquired until a few weeks ago when my roommates were panicking because they had to enroll in classes for next fall, and they were unsure about which to take. After explaining the necessity of balancing major requirements with general education requirements—and which classes were best for their individual preferences—I was able to help my roommates decide on their schedules for the fall. My roommates were astonished, and asked how I had the answers to their problems. I told them that I learned how to do research and plan ahead for college courses, in high school.

I was lucky to have had the opportunity to learn the social skills needed to succeed in college while still in high school. But I shouldn’t be unique. Elected officials should make it a priority to ensure the necessary funding and spending autonomy are available for students to access college opportunities while still in high school. In turn, school leaders should actively encourage students to attend college early on, in reality, on campuses near their high schools, so they can develop the self-reliance, confidence and understanding needed to succeed at one of the toughest educational challenges of their lives.