For many Mapleton Public School students – and many low income students nationwide – college readiness is connected to expectations. High school graduates who come from families that have the know-how and skills to get them through the college admissions and financial processes have a cultural advantage that College Summit founder J.B. Schramm identified while working with students at a Washington D.C. housing project in 1993. Today, College Summit is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with local offices in Chicago, St. Louis, Colorado, California, Washington D.C., and West Virginia.

Aiming to increase the college enrollment rate of low-income students nationwide, College Summit offers school districts the opportunity to enroll students in a four-day College Summit workshop. The workshops take place on college campuses and, during the summer prior to senior year, prepare students to face the college admissions process. Students write essays, complete applications, learn about financial aid, and do what’s needed to start senior year college-ready. College Summit workshops students also become agents of change at their schools, teaching their peers the skills they need to navigate college admissions.

College Summit also prepares a district’s teachers for college guidance responsibilities, provides partner colleges and universities with advance looks at the College Summit participants for recruitment, and involves the community by training volunteers to serve as College Summit workshop writing coaches. Twice as many College Summit workshop participants apply to and enroll in college as their peers from the same income levels and communities, most stay in college.

Mapleton Public Schools educators, dedicated to college readiness for all graduates, have involved in College Summit those students who chose to stay at Skyview High School for their junior and senior years. College Summit is playing a crucial role in changing the district’s culture in specific and immediate ways, providing a way for Skyview High School students to set the pace for the entire district – a remarkable phenomenon for a school that could easily be seen as an artifact of the past that’s on the way to being phased out.

Interested in College Summit for your students? Contact College Summit through your district’s superintendent’s office.

College Summit National Headquarters 1763 Columbia Road, NW, Second Floor
Washington, DC 20009
Telephone: 202/319-1763 or 866/266-1100
Email: info@collegesummit.org
www.collegesummit.org