UVI President Dr. David Hall addressed some 40 middle school and high school counselors from the territory at workshops last week on the University's St. Croix and St. Thomas campuses. The first workshop, for St. Thomas and St. John counselors, took place at the Administration and Conference Center on the St. Thomas campus on Wednesday, Nov. 18.
The St. Croix workshop was held Friday, Nov. 20, in the Melvin Evans Center. The theme of the workshops was Charting the Future of the U.S. Virgin Islands through Academic Excellence and Relevant Career Choices.
The workshops were designed to equip counselors with information to raise the awareness of prospective university students about the benefits of obtaining higher education in general, the merits of attending UVI, and the importance of developing a cadre of educated and trained individuals with relevant skills and knowledge who can help enhance the growth of the Virgin Islands community.
The workshops also represented partial fulfillment of President Hall's commitment to partner with educators in the territory in an effort to ensure that all students in the U.S. Virgin Islands receive the best education possible.
Included in the workshop agenda were panel discussions titled Promoting Careers for VI Growth and Development. They featured representatives from labor, education, personnel and private business. A presentation titled Connecting with the Wired Generation focused on the changing information technology scene and the need for educators to embrace the technology and online social networks used by young people in order to better reach them.
The workshops were sponsored and organized by UVI's Office of Access and Enrollment Services and the College Access Challenge Grant Program. The Access and Enrollment Services office, headed by UVI Vice Provost Dr. Judith Edwin, incorporated the sessions as part of its ongoing recruitment drive. The College Access Grant Program, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education, promotes college access by working with students and parents in a variety of areas such as college admissions and financial aid. The program also supports the professional development of the territory's school counselors.
For more information, contact Heather Hogarth Smith of UVI's
Office of Access and Enrollment Services, at (340) 693-1151
(hhogart@uvi.edu), or Denise
Lake, Educational Outreach Coordinator for the territory's College
Access Challenge Grant Program, at (340) 692-4101 (dlake@uvi.edu).
