Introducing SMART's Expanded College Access Programming

SMART is excited to roll out our fully comprehensive College Access Program (CAP) in September 2012. In order to achieve our goals of ensuring our Scholars are accepted into the four-year college of their choice, we will be working with all of our high school-aged students on a weekly basis. Throughout the CAP journey, SMART will provide our Scholars with the tools and confidence necessary to succeed in college, and develop the leadership skills and social consciousness to position them to become the next leaders of their communities and the world. This year's curriculum is greatly expanded, providing access to professional tutoring, and engaging our Scholars in community building events and workshops while each grade level works through a specific yearly focus:

• Freshman curriculum focuses on exploration. Students work toward understanding who they are and where they want to go with their lives. 
• Sophomores will focus on social justice and understanding the different systems in our society so that  they can identify career paths that fit their own passions. 
• Juniors prepare for college through researching schools and participating in heavy standardized test preparation. They will complete a multi-week Service Learning CAPstone project in the spring while developing their leadership skills. 
• Senior year is focused on college and scholarship application processes. All seniors will be required to apply to at least 12 colleges and 10 scholarships.

This year will be full of many firsts as the students build their CAP community. We are very excited to welcome them all back into the space as they walk on the path towards college!