About 500 fifth-graders from underserved schools will examine meteorites and animal bones, act in theatre games and participate in other educational activities during a college-exploration day Friday at the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½.<\/p>\n
As part of the third annual Achieve a College Education Day developed by Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½\u2019s Burnett Honors College, students from five elementary schools will meet with more than 150 Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ student volunteers of different majors, tour campus and engage with faculty.<\/p>\n
The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and it aims to provide the fifth-graders with the understanding that they could one day go on to college.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the fundamental issues is that so many young people don\u2019t even know that college is an option for them,\u201d said Kelly Astro, the college\u2019s director of research and civic engagement. \u201cBy bringing the students to Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½, we say, \u2018This is what going to college is,\u2019 and then we reinforce the ways in which you get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event will begin in the Pegasus Ballroom of the Student Union, where students will be greeted by Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ cheerleaders. Next, the students will be divided into teams of 25, each led by several volunteers, to participate in presentations relating to majors in STEM and the arts.<\/p>\n
Students will also have the chance to eat lunch with Knightro and Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ athletes by the Reflecting Pond and tour one of the university\u2019s residence halls. ACE Day will close with a performance by Rukus, one of the student dance organizations on campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is to have students walk away from this experience knowing that they can go to college and major in the subjects that interest them,\u201d said Astro. \u201cThere is nothing more rewarding than to hear the children leaving that day say \u2018I\u2019m going to Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m going to college,\u2019 and inevitably, you hear that echoed in a chorus as they are walking out.\u201d<\/p>\n
ACE Day began in 2011 in partnership with WORKFORCE Central Florida and Orange County Public Schools\u2019 Advancement via Individual Determination program, in which honors students complete service-learning projects in the fall of their freshman year. The event targets students prior to starting middle school so that they can line up the proper classes in order be prepared for more advanced high school coursework.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About 500 fifth-graders from underserved schools will examine meteorites and animal bones, act in theatre games and participate in other educational activities during a college-exploration day Friday at the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½. As part of the third annual Achieve a College Education Day developed by Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½\u2019s Burnett Honors College, students from five elementary schools will meet with more than…","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":46778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[650,2629],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-46777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-community","tag-burnett-honors-college","tag-kelly-astro"],"yoast_head":"\n