East Coast College Tour Provides Eye Opening Experience
For many living in this country, July 4th is a day of celebration and a day to remember the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and The United States separation from the British Empire. For most July 4th is a day to spend with family, cooking hot dogs on the grill or even relaxing at the beach. However, this year, July 4th was anything but a day of rest for 9 high achieving, very excited teenagers who gathered at the airport at 5:00 AM ready to catch a flight from San Diego to Boston. Many had never been out of San Diego let alone 3000 miles to our east but everyone was excited about the week ahead. A week that would allow these kids to visit 8 colleges and Universities that without the assistance of A Bridge for Kids they would never dream of seeing.
These students, chosen from over 25 applicants, were selected based on their desire to attend a university in the Northeast along with their GPA and SAT/ACT test scores. The average GPA was close to 4.5 for the group and each of the students had excelled on their standardized test scores and were solidly in the top decline nationally.After landing later that evening in Boston it was time for a very late dinner (a staple of our previous east coast tours), room assignments and a few hours of sleep. Everyone was excited about touring many of their dream schools that, thus far, they had only read about.
The next morning, after breakfast at the hotel, the group left for the city at 9:00 am, to visit Boston College and then on to Boston University in the afternoon. After a long day of information sessions and campus tours, the team took a patriotic walk over to the site of Boston Tea Party. Once they finished touring the city and all of the history Boston provides, the day came to a close with a well deserved trip to Shake Shack for some burgers and ice cream
Harvard and MIT were on the agenda for Thursday followed by a trip to Rhode Island and Connecticut to visit Brown and Yale the following day.
On the last day of the campus tour, the teens visited Columbia, their last Ivy League school and then NYU. At the airport, an exhausted group of kids still found time to share stories, emails and phone numbers with their new friends and potential future college classmates.
A Bridge for Kids would like to thank all of our generous supporters for making this life changing trip possible for these very deserving students. We would also like to congratulate Amanda Hinh, West Hills High School Class of 2017, who will be attending Brown University this fall. Amanda was on last years east coast college tour and had her dream turn into reality this past winter with her acceptance into this prestigious school!