South’s improved College and Career Center aims to help students with college worries
Great resources. Mrs. Mallamace is the head of the College and Career Center at South Forsyth. She has been working at South for many years and has a passion for helping students. This year, through the CCC, she hopes to help juniors and seniors understand what colleges look for and what they have to offer for their student population
October 1, 2020
A new school year brings about a new class of seniors. The class of 2021 runs into many problems that students haven’t encountered before. Trying to apply to college is a challenging process, but throw in a pandemic, and it is near impossible. This year, South Forsyth is improving the College and Career Center (CCC) to allow juniors and seniors to get more information about colleges and application processes.
SFHS teacher Mrs. Mallamace is new to the CCC this year but jumped at the opportunity to help. She expands on her goals for the center this year, “I like the connection with the schools and students. I feel like it is important to be in touch with your future.”
When students enter their senior year, they do not know whether to feel excited or lost because as students enter into May and graduate, there are so many unknowns. “A lot of times right after high school we feel lost. I think it is a good way to feel empowered by having the information in your hands,” Mrs. Mallamace explained.
She works diligently to contact Universities around the country but some Universities reach out to South Forsyth first. “Some of these colleges want to come to South Forsyth High School. They like our students about three-quarters of them reached out to me before I could reach out to them.”
Mrs. Mallamace works in the CCC alongside Jeter, South Forsyth’s therapy dog, and the counseling staff at South Forsyth. In Instructional Focus (IF), students are able to come to the CCC to seek advice and help from counselors with applications and essays. The counselors share advice involving applications and answer specific questions regarding anything college and school-related. The counseling staff updates their website frequently with scholarships students can apply for and any other information juniors and seniors need.
Each day the CCC holds virtual meetings with representatives from colleges. These representatives outline admission standards, scholarship opportunities, freshman profiles, campus opportunities, clubs, and sports. Students can tune in independently or go to the CCC. Joining the live meeting via the College and Career Center enters students into a raffle to win gift cards for places such as Starbucks and Chick-Fil-A.
On September 3, Peter Vleck from Georgia State University joined a live call to connect with students at South. Mr. Vleck had a colorful PowerPoint that really captured the attention of viewers in the class as well as students joining independently. He shared a lot of information regarding housing, scholarships, tuition and student profiles. He went into great detail and cleared up many unknowns within the students attending the meeting. Towards the end of the seminar, students were able to ask whatever questions they had and Mr. Vleck answered them live on the zoom call.
Mrs. Mallamace sets up these meetings to help make students’ lives easier. There are so many resources available for students to help them succeed in their journey of applying to colleges. The start of senior year is a confusing one; students walk the halls and visit teachers they may not see again after this year. Time goes on and the thoughts of the future and college slowly creep up, causing worry and anxiety within the population. Some students feel lost, not knowing where to start or what college to look at but now they no longer have to do it alone. With the resources provided by the CCC, students have the ability to interact with teachers and college representatives, which makes applying to college during a pandemic not as intimidating.
