SANTA BARBARA — The Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) at UC Santa Barbara will hold its fall Higher Education Week, a four-day series of events beginning Oct. 8, the university reported in a media release.
Representatives from universities, colleges and other institutions of higher education will visit high school campuses in the Santa Maria, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Oxnard, Fillmore and Santa Paula school districts to meet with high school seniors to discuss post-secondary education opportunities.
Each event will include a brief presentation followed by a college fair and breakout sessions on financial aid and college admissions. The first will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Pioneer Valley High School in Santa Maria and Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta.
San Marcos, Santa Barbara and Carpinteria high schools will host events on Wednesday, Oct. 9. On Thursday, Oct. 10, presentations will continue at Channel Islands, Rio Mesa and Hueneme high schools in Oxnard. The week will conclude on Friday, Oct. 11, with visits to Pacifica High School, also in Oxnard, and to Fillmore and Santa Paula high schools.
In all, more than 4,000 high school seniors will engage representatives from the UC, Cal State and community college systems, as well as from private colleges and universities such as Colorado State University-Pueblo; the University of New Mexico; the University of Massachusetts, Lowell; Johnson & Wales University; and Grand Canyon University. Also participating will be representatives from the Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation as well as from various Career Technical Education programs at regional community colleges.
“This is an incredible opportunity for participating high schools to host a large number of college representatives at their school sites on one day for so many of their students,” said Britt Ortiz, EAOP director. “Higher Education Week is great for potential transfer students and for those undecided seniors to make connections with the CSU, UC, private and community college reps. There are also plenty of critical updates and reminders for on-track students and for those interested in Career Technical Education programs. But the best part of this biannual event is that hundreds of students have the opportunity to engage multiple college reps in one-on-one conversations and have their questions answered by actual college recruiters.”
The mission of EAOP is to raise student achievement and to close achievement gaps so opportunities for postsecondary education become available to greater numbers of students. EAOP uses four key strategies –– academic advising, college knowledge, academic enrichment and entrance exam preparation –– to help students reach college eligibility and participate in higher education.
EAOP takes a dual service model approach that offers intensive cohort services for on-track college-bound students with schoolwide in tandem with college-going initiatives, such as Higher Education Week. The model is designed to foster a college-going culture and increase enrollment rates at California’s public institutions of higher education.
A variety of pre-college programs offered annually give students the opportunity to visit UCSB, tour labs and meet with faculty members, and conduct research or participate in other academic enrichment activities. Among the programs and services are annual transcript evaluation; academic advisement; academic achievers receptions; study skills and testing strategies; College Readiness seminars; the Education-Leadership- Careers Conference; UC Success Night; and Summer Algebra Academies.