Tanasia Pearson, a ninth-grader at Columbia Junior/Senior High School, wasn't sure if she should set her sights on going to college.
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She worried that her grades would have to be nearly perfect; getting accepted into a college, she thought, would be "almost impossible."
Now, however, Tanasia sees college as a realistic goal. She was among 21 ninth-grade girls from her high school to take part in a program called College Connections.
The program was funded by a grant to Franklin & Marshall College from AAUW, formerly known as the American Association of University Women. The AAUW bestowed 11 grants to colleges across the country to fund programs aimed at helping low-income and minority girls and young women surmount educational barriers.
The College Connections program matched the Columbia ninth-graders to female F&M students, who served as their mentors.
For seven Saturdays between Jan. 31-April 11, the Columbia students were transported by bus to F&M to take part in half-day sessions aimed at giving them a taste of collegiate life.
The girls attended a women's basketball game at F&M and met some of the basketball players. They were introduced to some of the college's clubs and groups. They went swimming in a pool on campus. They learned about the processes of applying to college and choosing a major. The Columbia students shared lunches and conversations with their mentors.
Tanasia, who hopes to be a marine biologist someday, said she really enjoyed spending time with her mentor, and asked her a lot of questions.
Her mentor encouraged her, she said, to keep her grades up and "stay focused." Her mentor reassured her that getting into college is "not as hard as everybody thinks it is." And her mentor — a student athlete herself — spoke to her about the sports for which colleges give athletic scholarships, said Tanasia, who runs track.
Some of the girls "made some really lasting connections, I think, which is a nice byproduct," said Betty Duncan, a former president of the Lancaster branch of the AAUW, who helped to plan the program.
The Columbia students also visited Millersville University, Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology and the Lancaster campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College. Their parents had a chance to meet with admissions and financial-aid advisers from F&M.
Judy Pehrson, the director of the Alice Drum Women's Center at F&M, applied for the AAUW grant that made the College Connections program possible. She said the Columbia students seemed to get a lot out of the program.
"I think we're on the radar screen," Pehrson said. "I think that going to college now is something that, for most of them, is possible."
Virginia Babic, principal of Columbia Junior/Senior High School, also said she was "extremely pleased" with the program. "I thought it was quite productive," Babic said. "I saw real, positive results with the girls."
Some of the mentors, Babic noted, were the first in their families to go to college. "So they were able to talk to these girls and say ... 'You can do it, too.' "
She said that the experience should give the ninth-graders "the confidence to believe that they can go to college and be successful."
Anna Lippe, a rising senior at F&M and a history major from the Baltimore area, said it's easy to forget that going to college isn't a given for everyone. "It's a privilege," Lippe said, "and a lot of people don't have this opportunity."
Suzanne Cassidy is a staff writer for the Sunday News. Her e-mail address is scassidy@lnpnews.com.
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