PASSHE Program Helps Students Prepare for College

MANSFIELD, PA— “Finding Your Place” is the theme and the goal for a group of students from the Erie and Meadville, PA areas wrapping up phase two of the R. Benjamin Wiley Partnership Program at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania on Thursday, July 29.
The three phase program, established and funded by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), identifies high school students in four urban areas; Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Erie, who have the potential to be successful college students and gives them guidance in preparing for and attending college.
Phase two is a three week on-campus program that simulates the college experience at one of four PASSHE universities. Students attend classes taught by university faculty, complete assignments on deadline, live in residence halls, attend workshops and take field trips.
“It’s not a camp,” MU Site Director Lilace Guignard said. “It is college level work for three weeks on a college schedule. They have to work out time management, study skills. They really get a crash course in what college teachers expect and how you act in college, academically and socially.”
“It’s been an eye opener,” Miles Alexander of Erie said. “I’ve learned a lot of things and I feel like I’ll have a head start once I jump into college.”
“It gave me the whole idea of college classes and the homework and what to expect,” Dante Goodwine of Erie said.
Marci Ring of Franklin was one of several students who talked about the new sense of responsibility she’s learned through the program. “I’ve been stressed out with all the homework,” she said. “It has made me not want to go to the movies and focus more on school and not procrastinate."
Steven Comi of Erie has enjoyed the social aspects of participating in the program. “It teaches you to come out of your shell and talk,” he said “You get to meet new people and get the college experience.”
It is the academic aspects of college life that appeal to Ashlynn Ross, of Meadville. “College makes you think out of the box,” she said. “In every class they take what you know and try to extend that to make you understand that there’s more, there’s always more.”
“The faculty have done a fantastic job tailoring the content of the classes toward this age group and this population,” Guignard said. “What they’re dealing with and what they’re focusing on.”
Dawn Fewkes, Kelly Doherty-Maggs, John Shanchuk, Henrik Madsen and Karen Guenther are the fulltime faculty for the program. MU faculty members Jimmy Guignard, Russ Dodson and Lou Labuski-Brown, along with Brian Barden and John Szentesy of Enrollment Services and Vice-President Finance and Administration Mike Reid have volunteered to give presentations.
Guignard also praised the group of Mansfield students who have served as counselors for the program.
The Mansfield group set up its own Facebook page to chronicle their experiences and stay in touch once they return home. It can be viewed at facebook.com/pages/R-B-Wiley-Partnership-Program-Phase-II-Mansfield-University-2010/136858736343451
For more information on the R. Benjamin Wiley Partnership Program, check online at passhe.edu/usefulsites/wiley/