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Early voting site is OK'd College visits students for day at Smallwood
Middle school gets the scoop on dorm life, studies
Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by GRETCHEN PHILLIPS
Malcolm Cheaves, a student at Morgan State University in Baltimore, speaks Dec. 18 to middle school students at General Smallwood Middle School about college.
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Students at General Smallwood Middle School got a glimpse of the college life earlier this month through the eyes of those who currently attend at this year's college day held at the school.
Current college students from such schools as Howard University in Washington D.C., Morgan State University in Baltimore and Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina gave presentations at the Indian Head school on the different aspects of college life from the social end to the academic end and everything in between, including tuition costs.
"You have to have a lot of responsibility," Anayah Nathan, 13, said about college.
Anayah and Davisha Proctor, 13, were both impressed by Malcolm Cheaves's presentation on Morgan State University.
Both girls were impressed by the sports programs available and the 2.0 grade point average required to get into the school.
Cheaves, 18, a freshman music major at Morgan, is a native of Charles County and attended Benjamin Stoddert Middle School. He said in middle school he didn't give college a whole lot of thought and thought it was a good idea for students to start thinking early.
"They seem interested. Everyone who has come in seems interested and has good questions," he said.
On the sixth-grade hall, many students were finding out the joys of independent living and not having to spend all day in a classroom.
Latrina Alston, 21, a senior at Hampton University in Virginia spoke a lot about schedules and course options with students at their request.
Students thought the idea of not having to go to class was cool until Alston put it back into perspective.
"Because you are paying for your classes, I would strongly encourage you to go to all of your classes," she said.
Students in all grades found colleges to be quite expensive but that did not stop them from wanting to go.
Nia Rooney, 11, heard presentations on George Mason University and the University of Oregon. She said she and her friend Tasia Shippy, 11, expressed interest in going to college in New York where they could study acting.
Coordinator of the event and school system Intervention Resource Facilitator Tameka Gaddy said about 10 colleges were represented at the Dec. 18 event by students or former students. More colleges were presented to students by eighth-grade AVID — Advancement Via Individual Determination — members.
Students presented the AVID program and also information about various colleges.
Gaddy said students seemed to be really motivated. She said those who made presentations did a lot of research on colleges and those who listened to presentations seemed more interested in the thought of college.
Principal Cynthia Baker said she enjoys watching the students during College Day. Baker said it's one thing to have adults explaining colleges to students but a completely different thing for them to hear it from their peers and from current college students who aren't too many years older.
Baker said it is important to get college explained to middle school students early so that by the time the students are in high school, they can begin planning.
