Belton-Honea Path High School in Anderson School District Two was recognized Oct. 17 by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education as a 2023-24 School of Excellence awardee for their strong commitment to student success and serving as a highly effective model for the state’s College Application Month campaign.
The American College Application Campaign is a national effort whose primary focus is to increase the number of first-generation and low-income students who pursue a postsecondary education. This is the fifth year of partnership between the CHE and the American College Application Campaign (an affiliate of ACT) to recognize schools for their College Application Month efforts.
“The purpose of College Application Month is to help students complete applications to post-secondary institutions, and we recognize schools who’ve done an amazing and effective job. What you all put into this program to make sure your students enjoy it is exemplary,” said Dr. Gerrick Hampton, associate director of Student Affairs for the CHE, at the award presentation.
He added that the school has one of the most impressive campaigns he has seen over his eight years of working with the program and commended the school for submitting an average of 1.9 applications per participant, which exceeds the state average of 1.3.
“It feels very special to be recognized as a school of excellence,” said Mary Boarts, principal of Belton-Honea Path High School. “We make it over the top because we want it to be fun, we want it to be exciting. We do raffles, we do food, we have the counseling department dressed up in whatever the theme for the year is. We really just go above and beyond to make it special.”
This year’s event used a college draft theme complete with “player” stats and coaches' uniforms for the counselors.
“Our counseling staff works really hard to expose these kids to as many opportunities as possible so that they can do whatever they want to do after high school,” Boarts said.
In 2023, 249 South Carolina high schools (public, charter, virtual, and adult education centers) registered to hold CAM events. These high schools consisted of approximately 50,563 high school seniors who had the opportunity to participate in a CAM event at their respective high schools. In the high schools that completed their report, 17,465 high school seniors signed into CAM events, submitting more than 31,000 applications.
Nationally, the campaign has served nearly 4.7 million students who have submitted nearly 8.7 million applications since 2005.
College Application Month was first held in South Carolina in 2009 and has become a vital component of state efforts to encourage college attendance. In its first year, just 12 high schools participated, with 1,000 seniors submitting about 2,000 applications collectively.
College Application Month and the CHE’s college access campaigns directly support the CHE’s long-term strategic goal of increasing higher education attainment in South Carolina. Earning a post-secondary degree or credential ultimately contributes to the state’s growing economy by providing more skilled and trained workers to meet the increasingly technical demands of the modern workforce. By 2027, 70 percent of all jobs are expected to require some education beyond high school.
|
College Application Month Participant Statistics (2023) |
|
Gender:
Race/Ethnicity:
Number of Schools Applied to:
First in Family to Attend College: 32% |
Related Content: