All APS Parents and Students are invited.
How to Build a College List, Pandemic Edition
Wednesday, June 2, 7:30 p.m.
Register Here
Touring Colleges from the Comfort of Home: This may be the first generation of kids who’ve had to tour schools in a pandemic, but they’re not the first kids who’ve had to make decisions about schools without ever setting food on campus. The good news is that, in the last year, schools have only gotten better about providing information online. In this session, we’ll talk about how to build a college list and get a good sense of what each school offers from the comfort of your couch. We’ll also address how kids can both dig deep and stand out during their college research, and how parents can help students (without nagging) and reduce stress during what is often an emotionally fraught year.
Supporting Kids through the College Essay-writing Process
Thursday, June 10, 7:30 p.m.
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Tips for Helping Your Student to Use his/her Voice Effectively: We are not shy about our love for college essays. In our opinion, they’re the best part of the application process. But we also want to encourage parents to trust that their kids are the best people to tell their own stories. Personal statements and supplemental essays offer an opportunity for kids to step back and reflect on who they are, how they got here, and where they want to go next. They’re also the only place on an application where kids can speak directly to admissions offices. There are thoughtful and strategic ways for them to do that, but the best essays we’ve read are the ones that could never have been written (or dictated) by parents. In this session, we’ll address how parents can play a supportive–and supporting–role in the process without overstepping their kids’ boundaries or best interests.
About our Expert Speakers
Adrienne Wichard-Edds is a writer and editor specializing in education and parenting. Her byline regularly appears in national and local publications, including The Washington Post and Arlington Magazine.
Ami Foster is an award-winning creative writer who has more than two decades of experience working with college-bound kids.
Both Ami and Adrienne have been teaching and mentoring teens since the ’90s and have seen firsthand how admissions in higher education have evolved. As moms whose kids have attended three of Arlington’s public high schools, they know the college search and application process can feel overwhelming. With that in mind, they’ve developed individual coaching methods and writing workshops designed to help kids and parents work together, with the ultimate goal of empowering students to find their voice and take control of their journey to college. Learn more at www.theessaycoaches.com.