A new program at Montclair State University is designed to provide high school students with the opportunity to make the most of their college experience.
The Hispanic Student College Institute, scheduled for August 1-3, and will help students become better prepared for applying to colleges by learning about the college search and application process, essay writing, resume building, and developing leadership and public speaking skills. There will also be a “college fair” event to give students the chance to learn about Montclair State University’s course offerings. At the conclusion of the three-day institute, students will receive a certificate that they can include on resumes and college applications.
The program has gotten the attention of Hispanic-identifying high school juniors and seniors from all over the United States, as well as the Dominican Republic and Honduras.
Jordanna Maziarz, associate director for Recruitment and Community Engagement at MSU, is running the program and came up with the idea after attending a conference where she learned that another school in the Midwest had done something similar. “It kind of gave me the idea that we could do something with a Montclair spin on it here targeted specifically for our Hispanic students.”
Working with Hispanic students is of great importance to many higher education institutions because they are a rapidly growing group of college applicants. MSU actually was designated a Hispanic Serving Institution last year, so the founding of this program is a way to highlight and celebrate that accomplishment.
The HSCI program received almost 500 applicants but is expecting about 200 students to participate. “It was tough to narrow it down,” Maziarz says. The online application process required two essays, high school transcripts and recommendation letters.
“We were looking for students who we thought would take it seriously and get a lot out of it,” Maziarz says. “Most of them are really, really high-achieving students, but that wasn’t a requirement as long as we felt they were going to take advantage of what was going to be offered to them.”
