(1/29/09)
Wingfield High School students enjoy their break in the
student center at Millsaps College.
More than 125 Jackson Public School tenth graders are visiting Millsaps College today to learn more about Advanced Placement courses and how they help prepare one to attend college.
The program was planned as part of the One Campus One Community initiative at Millsaps that connects college resources with public school needs.
“Our main hope is that after today (the JPS students) will feel enthusiastic about taking AP courses,” said LaQuanda Sims, a 2008 Millsaps graduate and One Campus One Community fellow. “We hope they’ll have a better understanding about how AP courses can better their college career.”
Students came from most JPS high schools including Murrah, Wingfield and Bailey Magnet. Most of the students will face the decision to take AP classes in the next two years of high school.
Paris Smith, a sophomore at Wingfield High School, said that she wants to take AP courses including AP chemistry. “They said college is ten times better than high school,” she said, “that is motivating me to study ten times harder.”
Patricia Woodard, a teacher at Murrah High. School, said the visit was also meant to make students think about going to college. “If our students talk to Millsaps students and realize ‘they’re just like me!’ that’s good, and I think that is what they’re getting today,” she said.
The JPS students took a guided tour of the campus, met with faculty, had a question- and- answer session with a panel of five Millsaps students and ate lunch in the Millsaps cafeteria.
Dr. Darby Ray, professor of religious studies and director of the Faith & Work Initiative at Millsaps, moderated a student panel that spoke to 125 Jackson Public Schools tenth graders.
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