By Isabel Arce, Elise Smith, and Kelly Castillo
At Uncommon Charter High School, they aspire to motivate students to succeed and go to college. With that goal of sending students to college, in October the junior class embarked on a two day college trip where they toured campuses, spoke with current students, and attended information sessions. This experience of college can motivate students to study a major and understand, not only the expectations of college, but the advantages they can get out of it in the future.
Alia Johnson, a current Junior, was on trip 2 and went to Binghamton, SUNY Cortland, and SUNY Oneonta. Johnson enjoyed visiting colleges that had the major she was interested in.
“I was really interested in one of the colleges because it had a good science program,” Johnson said. “I’m interested in majoring in biology.”
Alia’s friend Jahlia , who went on the same college trip, also described her experience.
“We got to see a lot of opportunities, a lot of different college campuses, meet new people, and see how diverse it was,” Jahlia said. “There were many other colleges in one campus, so it’s like different opportunities in one campus”. Jahlia wants to go to college so she can have a stable life when she gets older, to support her expensive habits.

Jaline McCallum, another junior, went to Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall, and Gettysburg. When asked if these trips inspired her she said, “I really liked Franklin and Marshall and Dickinson, and it influenced what schools I’m considering applying to.”
Every year these trips allow students to better understand the college experience and help clarify their goals. Next fall these rising seniors might be going to one of these colleges.