Students Leave Harrison to Look Into Future

A group of 49 Harrison High School students left town early Wednesday morning to begin a trip that will cover over 800 miles and stop at four different SUNY colleges. For many of them, it will be the first step toward finding out where they will continue their education after graduation.

"We're giving almost 50 students the opportunity to do what they wouldn't ordinarily have the opportunity to do on their own," said Carolyn Chieco, a Harrison guidance counselor. "They get to walk and talk and breath the air, it helps them see what they like as well as what they don't like."

Chieco, several other guidance counselor's from Harrison, as well as Director of Guidance Chris Miller will make the trip and coach the students while they look at the schools. Miller and Chieco are both attending the trip for the third time.

"For some of them, these campuses will be the first campuses they ever step foot on," said Miller. "We are able to use all of this information, when they come back to the high school we encourage them to meet with their counselors."

This is the fourth year that Harrison has offered the trip to 10th and 11th graders. Students who have attended the trip both years will have visited at least nine public and private schools spread throughout the state before even entering their senior year of high school.

Students will visit SUNY Binghamton and SUNY Cortland on Wednesday before traveling to Buffalo where they will spend the night. After visiting SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Brockport on Thursday the bus will return home.

"They will remember this trip as they get older, and certainly as they go through the college process," said Miller. "They really get a flavor of what each campus' culture is like and they are able to do comparisons based on that."

The Harrison staff will remind students of important questions to ask and things to consider. That way when individual students visit other schools they will already have an idea of what to expect. The trip also gives students a chance to visit a wide range of colleges that they might not be able to travel to otherwise.

"I wouldn't be able to, but that's why my parents sent me here because they wouldn't be able to take me by themselves," said Naty Maldonado, a Harrison 11th grader who also attended last year's trip.

Sophy Tejada, another Harrison 11th grader, said that she likes Sienna College after visiting the school during last year's trip.

"We went to Albany, Sienna, Ithica and Oneonta and I liked Sienna out of all of them, the campus... I just had a feeling," she said. "It's also fun to see the different types of what a college has or doesn't have."

That result is not uncommon, said Miller. He said that most students return to Harrison interested in one school or another visited during the trip. This provides younger students with added motivation to, if necessary, improve their grades so they are accepted into a certain school.

All students have to pay for a seat on the bus, but some are awarded a scholarship to reduce payment if assistance is needed. Whatever the payment may be, Chieco said that the trip is both fun and educational, adding that they never have trouble filling the bus.

"Geographically, it's exposing them to areas that they've never seen before from rural to suburban to urban," Chieco said. "Overall, it's just a new and exciting exposure to the college process."