College Bound

I have been helping my daughter with the daunting task of completing her college applications. Helping her with her applications has truly given me an appreciation for the difficult decision students face about growing up, deciding what college to attend, and then making the move to leave home and go to a university. It is an overwhelming task, and I can see the apprehension and the unsettling feeling my daughter experiences every time she speaks of leaving home to go to college. Of course, there are those moments when she tells me that she can't wait to move out, go far away, make her own decisions, and never come back! I just smile and say, "I know." If it is this difficult for a senior in high school, then I can only imagine how hard it is for our middle school students to focus on college. They have more important things in their heads: who should I go to the dance with...am I wearing the right clothes...will mom let me go to the mall with my friends? I speak about college every day with many students, but they get this glazed look in their eyes, and I feel like everything I say goes in one ear and out the other. Many people may ask why talk to middle school students about college at all? My response is that I want to give my students the idea that college is an expectation, not an option. I want so many doors to open for them, and I know that these doors will open more easily with a college degree. So, I won't give up talking about college with my middle school students. It is my hope that even though it may go in one ear and out the other, that some of it sticks on the way out!