Admission Possible students make a difference
by Peter Bodley
Managing Editor
Some 80 students in the Coon Rapids High School Admission Possible program made a difference Saturday.
Students in the Coon Rapids Admission Possible program spent Saturday morning walking the neighborhood round the school trick-or-canning for canned food that was donated to the Emergency Food Shelf Network as part of Make a Difference Day. Kohlman Thompson (left), Norman Howard (second left) and Brittney Wimmers (right) were greeted by a resident when they stopped by her home. Photo submitted
To mark Make a Difference Day Nov. 5, the Coon Rapids students joined Admission Possible students from other Twin Cities high schools in a trick-or-canning project.
The Coon Rapids students went trick-or-canning in the morning walking the residential neighborhoods surrounding the high school.
Flyers were distributed to the neighborhoods ahead of Saturday to let residents know that students would be door-knocking, according to Lauren Peffley, Admission Possible junior coach at Coon Rapids High School.
“We had a fantastic good time,” said Kayte McGuire, CRHS senior coach.
According to student Kohlman Thompson, a senior, trick-or-canning was a lot of fun.
The shopping bags full of canned food and the students then traveled to the Minneapolis Sports Center, which is part of the Metropolitan Minneapolis YMCA, to unload the food and take part in rally with other Admission Possible students to celebrate service with food, games and guest speakers.
“Overall, Admission Possible students collected over 7,000 pounds of non-perishable food items,” said Paul McDivitt, communications, Admission Possible.
Like McGuire and Peffley, McDivitt is an AmeriCorps volunteer working for Admission Possible Twin Cities.
There were over 400 juniors and seniors plus staff from 19 participating high schools at the rally, according to McDivitt.
“It was great to meet all of the other Admission Possible students from other schools and collect food for a good cause,” Thompson said.
The food was donated to Emergency Food Shelf Network.
“Make a Difference Day’s activities encourage students to have fun while being engaged in and giving back to their communities,” McDivitt said.
In addition, Admission Possible students collected pop can tabs to raise money for Ronald McDonald House, according to Peffley.
Admission Possible is a program for high school juniors and seniors from low-income families who receive intensive coaching and support to make college admission possible.
Saturday’s event was also a chance for the Coon Rapids students to meet their idealistic mentors for the first time.
According to McDivitt, idealistic mentor is an initiative matching low-income, college-bound high school seniors participating in Admission Possible’s intensive college access program with supportive adults to help them achieve their academic, personal and career goals from the time they are paired through college graduation.
Pairs are getting to know each other through a unique combination of weekly e-mail correspondence and monthly group events with the goal of increasing college success, McDivitt said.
Mentors include Admission Possible student alums, Admission Possible former AmeriCorps members, corporate partners and other interested community members, he said.
Twenty-six mentors are paired with 26 students at Coon Rapids High School, McDivitt said.
“They have in-person meetings once per month at Coon Rapids High School,” he said.
The meeting next month will be focused on getting to college – pairs will be doing role-playing activities to practice networking and prepare for admissions interviews, and working on a financial aid worksheet, he said.
It was great meeting his mentor for the first time, according to Thompson.
“He was a really awesome guy and we related to each other in a lot of ways,” Thompson said.
“We didn’t just talk about getting into college, we talked about life and even hip hop, which was great.”
Kohlman has applied to six colleges already and his top two choices are the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Launched in 2000, Admission Possible is in its third year at Coon Rapids High School. It serves 7,600 low-income high school and college-age students through its college access and completion programs.
According to a recent Harvard study, the program doubles a student’s chances of enrolling in college.
Peter Bodley is at peter.bodley@ecm-inc.com
