Special to the Journal

November 16-20 marks College Application Week in North Carolina, during which colleges and universities agreed to waive application fees if students applied online during the time frame. Schools across the county are hosting activities throughout the week that emphasized the importance of a college education.

To kick off the week, the school district will celebrate College Awareness Day November 16, by allowing employees and students from all schools to wear college gear from their favorite colleges and universities.

“We thought it would be great to have everyone participate.” Dr. George Norris, Superintendent said. “We want to get our elementary and middle school students and employees involved as well, because we know it’s never too early for our students to begin to think about college.”

Administrators at Richmond Senior High School have coordinated times after school throughout the week, when students can use the school computers to complete online applications. The computer lab in the Media Center will be open Monday-Thursday of that week from 3:00 until 5:00 for students that do not have access to a computer at home or need assistance with filling out the applications.

Jewell Price, guidance counselor at the high school, said she was impressed with the students who took advantage of the opportunity last year, and hopes even more students will stay after school this year.

“We want students to take advantage of this opportunity to complete their college applications while at school.” Price said. “We will also be doing an "Ask Me" flyer for every teacher to post outside their classroom with the name or names of the schools they attended to help generate conversation between students and teachers about education beyond high school. We all took different routes and it's good for them to realize there are different ways to arrive at a destination.

Richmond County Transitional School teachers will decorate doors with college paraphernalia.

Drop-out prevention is at the forefront of the school district’s efforts and the state’s educational agenda. Teachers and administrators plan to continue reinforcing the message about graduation and future options to students throughout the school year.