a newsletter produced by brooklyn center community schools

college and career readiness centercentaur

pages

E T REE TRUST S

WHAT’S INSIDE:

winter 2014

On Thursday, February 20, 2014 Brooklyn Center High School will host its Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) night from 3:30-6:30 p.m. This event is open to the public and is an opportuni-ty for families to receive assistance navigating the financial aid pro-cess. In order to get the process started that evening, families must bring their tax form 1040. Those who do not file state taxes, please contact the guidance counselors - this includes assistance with Dream Act applications.

Minnesota College Goal is a statewide volunteer program that provides free information and assistance to students and families who are apply-ing for financial aid for post secondary education. Minnesota College Goal brings together financial aid professionals from colleges and universities,

FaFsa night and minnesota college goalQualify for a $500 scholarship!

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CAREER CONNECTION

GET READY!

UPWARD BOUND

thePOWER ofYOU (MCTC) FEATURED

SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINES

AMERICORPS STAFF

educational talent searchBY LISA RONEY

2 CENTAUR PAGES

Lisa Roney is the Director of Educational Talent Search at Hennepin Technical College

along with other volunteers, to help college-bound students and their families complete the

FAFSA. This form is required for any student seeking federal and state financial aid, includ-ing grants and loans at all colleges in the country.Should You Attend? Our workshops are for stu-dents who plan to attend college during the next academic year. These workshops are designed for those who are low income or have no family history of attending college. However, any students who feel they need financial aid to attend college and who need help applying for that aid are encouraged to attend one of the workshops held across the state.

A Minnesota College Goal workshop usually lasts for two hours, during which you will complete the FAFSA, assisted by trained professionals. Please arrive on time in order to have plenty of time to receive information and complete the FAFSA.

Attendees may enter their name in a drawing for a chance to win a $500 educational scholarship.

Pre-registration is not required.

FAFSA Night continued from page 1

Trio-Educational Talent Search (ETS) got off to an excellent start this year. We were able to provide our ETS students with a campus vis-it to St. Cloud State University over the MEA break. We are thrilled to report that all of our seniors applied to at least one college or uni-versity during College Application Week.

On December 20th, we invited our ETS college stu-dents to join us for an assembly to tell us about their college experience and to answer questions from the audience. This was a great way for stu-dents to find out about different colleges and the

difference between high school and college. Our alumni offered valuable advice to our Brooklyn Center students including: FAFSA information, summer programs and the importance of keeping

their grades up in high school.

When we return after winter break, we will be taking stu-dents to Minnesota State Uni-versity-Mankato for Discover

MSU Day. Our students will have a chance to meet admissions representatives, learn about MSU programs, receive a free t-shirt, and have the opportunity to tour the campus. In the upcom-ing months, we will have more events planned for our middle school students as well as our un-derclassmen that are in great academic standing.

Educational Talent Search staff will be assist-ing with Financial Aid Night on February 20th. If any seniors need help with completing the FAF-SA application, please attend this event. We ask that you bring the required documents so that we can assist in getting this process completed.

For more information about events or any col-lege readiness questions, please stop by the CCRC and talk to Robert Walker. We are still taking applications for the Educational Tal-ent Search Program, if you are interested; please stop by the CCRC for an application.

tree trust

Tree Trust’s Youth Development Services may be right for eligible youths ages 16-18 who would ben-efit from assistance with classes, job applications and interviews, getting ready for college, and more. Tree Trust’s Youth Devel-opment Services is here to assist individuals, ages 16-18, in the following areas:

• Earn wages while com-pleting an internship.

continued on page 8

north hennepin community college upward boundBY MATT THRASHER

Matt Thrasher is the Upward Bound Academic Advisor at North Hennepin Community College

WINTER 2014 3

We’ve had a busy year in Upward Bound! This summer, UB students and staff visited Washing-ton, D.C. for their annual cultural trip. We left in the early morning on July 16 and drove straight through. It took over twenty hours to get there. We stayed at George Washington University and spent time at the monuments, museums, and even Six Flags. Personal favorites included the American History Museum, the Smithsonian Zoo, and a night out at an authen-tic Mexican restaurant in Foggy Bottom. What a unique experience for everyone who came.

But this summer was more than just fun in the sun. For example, several of our seniors participated in our week-long College 101 course taught at North Hennepin Community College over the summer. They learned the basics of college selection, finan-cial aid, applying, and deciding on the right col-lege for them. Each student left the course with a list of potential colleges and their first completed college essay. When they returned to school in the fall, our seniors put in hours during our monthly Saturday Academies applying to colleges and for scholarships. Many also participated in Minne-sota’s College Knowledge Month, an opportunity for students to apply to state universities and com-munity colleges free of charge. All this hard work will pay off in the spring when seniors choose their college or university for fall 2014.

For our other students, the school year is all about preparing for the ACT. Love it or hate it, the ACT plays an important part in the college application process. It takes a whopping five hours and covers grammar, reading, science, math, and writing. Pre-paring for it is no small task. You can’t, of course, just show up and take it. Our juniors, sophomores, and freshmen have spent time during Saturday

Academies and after-school preparing with their advisors and tutors. In October, we broke down the math and reading sections, focusing on the types of questions and content covered. We then conducted a real paper-and-pencil ACT the fol-lowing month. In the meantime, students had access to test prep books in addition to COMFIT, an online ACT-prep service provided by Upward

Bound. In the spring, we’ll register the stu-dents for the test as we continue to prep for it.

On the day before Thanksgiving, Up-ward Bound hit the road again, but this time to a closer des-tination: St. Cloud State University. A group of seven stu-

dents and two staff hopped on board the NHCC school van bound for north-central Minnesota. The weather was cold, but our reception was warm. College staff greeted us at the Atwood Memorial Center, where they treated us to a full presentation from SCSU admissions, a tour, and even a meet-and-greet with the head of Multicultural Student Services, a truly rare opportunity. Afterward, we heard from SCSU students about their experiences at the college. Then we capped off the afternoon with a pre-Thanksgiving feast of our own in the Garvey Commons. SCSU is one of several colleges that we will visit this year. Stay tuned for possible trips this spring!

If you or someone you know is interested in participat-ing in Upward Bound, please contact Matt Thrasher: 763-488-0260 or mthrasher@nhcc.edu. Applications are available in the CCRC at BCHS.

Upward Bound in DC

get ready!

BY PA KU LEE and JOE KANE

4 CENTAUR PAGES

Mr. Kane and Ms. Lee are the GET READY! Educational Liaisons at the College and Career Readiness Center

The Get Ready Program at Brooklyn Center High School serves ALL students in grades 6-9. This FREE program seeks to promote early college and career readiness. Two Education Liaisons, Ms. Pa Ku Lee and Mr. Joe Kane work with all students through two monthly lessons, one-to-one student advising, tutoring, field trips, and summer camp opportunities.

Some highlights of the school year include hosting a Hmong New Year Family Celebration at the high school with over 250 people attending, taking 25 9th graders to the University of Minnesota for an all-day event, small group trips to local colleges, and field trips around careers for girls in science, fashion design, and leadership development. We have continued our partnership with 21st Century After School Programs to provide afterschool tu-toring every day for students. In addition, a major highlight of the year was sending 13 students on a 5-day college and leadership trip through a part-ner program, Students Today, Leaders Forever. We will be partnering with them again to provide

a 3-day trip for 8th graders and a chance to attend their leadership summer camp. Lastly, the Get Ready Program has implemented two new, data driven programs for classroom lessons and stu-dent advising proven to raise student motivation and academic growth. These programs have de-buted with great success from students and staff.

Upcoming events include numerous field trips to visit colleges and volunteer in the community, es-pecially in the months of January and February. The Get Ready Program will also be hosting a Family Night during spring conferences with in-formation about financial aid and ways to pay for college.

Students in the program are now eligible to at-

tend a variety of day or overnight summer camps as well. All BCHS families who are on free or reduced lunch are also able to ap-ply for a summer camp scholarship that can be ap-plied to a select group of camps.

More information about the scholarship can be found here: http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/mPg.cfm?pageID=1958

Information about which camps are available through this scholarship is located here: http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/sPages/saePrograms.cfm

For more information about the program, please contact either Ms. Lee or Mr. Kane at 763-561-2120 ext 5300.GETREADY!

WINTER 2014 5

power of you BY YOLONDA ROGERS

Greetings Senior Centaurs! You can make your dream of go-ing to college tuition free a real-ity through the Power of YOU program. The Power of YOU Program is a scholarship and support program through Min-neapolis Community and Tech-nical College, and Saint Paul College. Students accepted into the program receive two years of free tuition and fees (or up to 72 credits), and a team of staff that will support you in being a successful college student. The Power of YOU program supports as many students as possible based on student need and funds available for the program.

Eligibility requirements include:

• Graduate from a Minneapolis or Saint Paul public high school or qualifying suburban high school. Brooklyn Center High School graduates are eligible!

• Meet the criteria to apply for fed-eral financial aid.

• Meet the family adjusted gross in-come cap of $75,000.

• Take the assess-ment tests and score above ABE in two or more placements.

• Complete the application process by the dead- line which is May 1, 2014.

To apply for the Power of YOU please stop by the CCRC to pick-up an application. The program staff would also like to invite you to attend our

annual Senior Connect Day for Brooklyn Cen-ter High School on Friday, March 7, 2014. This is a chance for students who have applied for the program to visit campus, learn more about our college and program, and connect with Power of YOU students and staff. To sign-up to attend Se-nior Connect Day at Minneapolis Community and Technical College please contact Kelli Hillestad in the BCHS Counseling office.

For more information or questions regarding the Power of YOU program, do not hesitate to contact me, Yolonda Rogers at (612) 659-6729 or yolonda.

Yolonda Rogers is the Advisor for the Power of YOU program at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

Yolonda Rogers

Power of YOU Leadership Academy participants

new americorps staff

6 CENTAUR PAGES

BY APRIL GRAVES

Featured scholarships and

BY ZOELLAN KJERNES

My name is April Graves. I am an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow and I will be working with students on academic goals for the rest of the 2013/2014 school year. A little about me? I am a mother of four children aged 17 to 4 years and I am a resi-dent of Brooklyn Center. I gradu-ated from Met-ropolitan State University in De-cember of 2010 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Cre-ative Writing and Social Science. It took me a year before I ended up at Juxtaposition Arts a North Min-neapolis, non-profit, visual arts organization that teaches and employs urban youth in hands-on art and design skills. I worked as the Youth Engage-ment and Programs Coordinator and handled a lot of administrative duties for almost 2 years.

As a creative person, I feel unfulfilled and stifled in administrative roles but I love learning, pas-sionate teachers and inspiring interactions with youth and the community. I am excited to be at BC and to get the opportunity to help facilitate higher student achievement, explore new resources and expand my networking circle—especially in re-gards to my passion for social justice, community engagement, and the health and wellness of our youth. During my time at BC I plan to continue writing for personal catharsis as well as, begin to attain some freelance jobs. I will also start taking steps toward planning a youth-led service-learn-ing project and possibly coach a group of youth to perform poetry or spoken-word at the Global Youth Service Day event at MOA in April 2014.

April Graves is the AmeriCorps Promise Fellow in the College and Career Readiness Center for the Academic year 2013/2014

April and her daughter Jasmine

deadlines

The Pohlad Scholarship deadline is fast approaching, applications must be re-ceived by March 1, 2014. To be eligible stu-dents must meet all of the following criteria:

• High school seniors who plan to enroll in full- time undergraduate study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school in the U.S. for the entire upcoming academic year.

• Minimum GPA of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale (or its equivalent).

• Reside in Minneapolis, St. Paul, MN seven-

The Career Connection Program connects Ju-niors and Seniors from BCHS who have demon-strated excellent behavior, attendance and grades with jobs in the Brooklyn Center community.

Students must complete a job application, attend a resume workshop and participate in a mock in-terview. A position is not guaranteed, but it is an excellent way for students to learn what it takes to apply for a job.

This past fall there were three students placed through the Career Connecting program with the City of Brooklyn Center. All three students worked at the golf course helping with landscaping, clean-ing the grounds, preparing the greens for winter and other small tasks.

If you have questions please contact Leah Post. lpost@brookcntr.k12.mn.us

career connection program

continued on page 7

Zoellan Kjernes is the Coordinator in the College and Career Readiness Center

WINTER 2014 7

county metro area, including the counties of: Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington.

• Demonstrate financial need.

If a student is selected, he/she will receive a $2,000 award. Awards are renewable for up to 3 years (during undergraduate study only) or until a degree is earned, whichever occurs first based on satisfactory academic performance.

Interested students must complete the appli-cation and mail it along with a current, com-plete transcript of grades to Scholarship Man-agement Services postmarked no later than March 1, 2014. Grade reports are not acceptable.

More complete information and application ma-terials can be found at:

http://sms.scholarshipamerica.org/pohladschol-ars.

U.S. Bank will award $1,000 scholarships to 35 students through a random drawing. New this year, it will award one $5,000 scholarship to a student who completes a series of eight Financial Genius education courses online. Applications will be accepted through May 29, 2014. Students can review official terms and conditions and ap-ply online at: www. usbank.com/scholarship. The Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program ac-cepts nominations from January 31 - March 14, 2014. Students must be between ages of 6 and 18, and not yet a high school graduate. The stu-dent’s volunteer work (must have occured during the past year) should be described in detail in the nomination. Nominators must be 21 y/o or older.

Store winners will receive a $50 Kohl’s gift card. Regional winners will receive a $1,000 schol-arship for post-secondary education, and na-tional winners will receive $10,000 in schol-arships. More information can be found at: www.kohlscorporation.com/communityrela-tions/scholarship/program-information.asp

Other scholarships with March deadlines (find scholarship information by doing a search on

Featured Scholarships continued from page 6 Google) are listed below:

• Twin Cities in Motion College Scholarship, $5,000 each to one male and one female student participating in track. March 1, 2014.

• Society of Women Engineers Scholarship, opens on March 1, deadline is May 15, 2014.

• Anoka Ramsey Community College Scholar-ships, March 14, 2014.

• Imagination Begins with You Essay Scholar-ship, $250 award, March 15, 2014.

• Ann Rand Essay Contest, deadlines for: An-them, March 20, 2014; The Fountainhead, April 26, 2014.

• MnACC Student of Color Scholarship, March 31, 214

• Janice M Scott Memorial Scholarship, March 31, 2014.

• IME/LEDC Latino Scholarship, March 31, 2014.

• MN Association of Educational Office Profes-sionals (Darla Scales Scholarship), for students pursuing careers as office profes-sionals.

• SFM Foundaton Scholarship, for students with parents disabled or fatally injured on the job. March 31, 2014.

• PDK Prospective Educator Scholarship, April 1, 2014.

• Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Endowed Scholarship, applicants should go to http://www.shakopeedakota.org/schol-arships.html for contact information.

Students should also check out additional scholarship opportunities specific to the university or college where they have been accepted and plan on attending. Many offer general scholarships or ones specific to their area of study.

7

College and Career Readiness CenterBrooklyn Center IB World Arts and Magnet School6500 Humboldt Avenue NorthBrooklyn Center, MN 55430(763) 561-2120 x5300 FAX: (763) 450-3477

Tree Trust continued from page 2

• Gain employment and job search skills.

• Demonstrate financial need.

• Prepare for job placement in a field of interest .

• Plan for education and employment after high school.

• Work with a mentor to increase college en- trance opportunities.

• Gain employment and job search skills.

• Prepare for the ACT.

• Receive help with college applications and fi- nancial aid forms.

• Receive financial assistance with college ap- plication and testing fees.

Any youth who is living in suburban Hennepin County (not Minneapolis); between the ages of 16 and 18, and who has encountered any of the following barriers to education or employment is

eligible to participate:

• Low income.

• Have a disability.

• School dropout.

• Homeless, runaway, or foster child.

• Interaction with the legal system.

Meet with our case Manager, Joe Toeben any Monday from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. in the Commons Area at BCHS, passes must be obtained from the counseling office!

Tree Trusters Rockin’ the Vote!

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