Last night, unsurprisingly, I attend the CTCL NYC event. I say unsurprisingly because I've been hawking the event pretty hard via emails, this blog, Junior meetings, and the website. For those of you that attended with me, you will get the reference in the title of this post. It refers to a comment that Marty O'Connell (Executive Director of Colleges That Change Lives) made during the introductory session. She suggests that we encourage parents and guardians to become less of the famed 'helicopter' parent and transition to be more of a 'hummingbird' parent. Hummingbirds care for and nurture their eggs and babies, but then when they are strong enough they push them out of the nest. In this same way, with the college process the student that is most successful is also the one that is forced to think and work independently. The person planning on going to the school should take on the brunt of the workload when it comes to researching, asking questions, and interacting on campus. This is why, as you may have noticed by now, parents and guardians cannot edit the prospective college list in Naviance. Only the student account has access to this feature.
I had a great time at the event and only wish I had more time to stop and talk at every table. But I knew the purpose was really for the students to meet the colleges so I tried to just say a quick hello to a few representatives and keep moving. I will say this though, you can tell a lot about a college by who they send to a fair. I spoke with more than one Director of Admission. A school that has a Director out on the road, particularly in May, says a lot about how committed the Admissions office is to a holistic review of their applicants. These schools truly walk the walk when they say they have a different approach.
I know most of our Juniors were on the Washington, DC trip - but hopefully the parents in attendance took away some valuable information. For students that are brave enough, I eagerly anticipate the day when I see a lot more applications filed (and students enrolling) at places like Eckerd College*, Wabash College, Juniata College, Beloit College and the rest of these fantastic schools.
* Hi Maria! I hope your Google Alert found me!
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