ICAP Projects - Science Education and College Access
On-going Projects:
Northfield:
Riverland/TORCH/Carleton College TA Program
Lego Robotics Club with Local Middle School Students
Latino Lab at Northfield High School
Photography Project with Local High School Students
Faribault:
Faribault High School Tutoring and Experiential Learning
One-time Events
IFSA/TORCH College Access Day
This event brought a group of TORCH students from Northfield High School to Carleton College to work one-on-one with Carleton student volunteers to search for colleges, fill out applications, and work on college essays for two hours. Some of the students expressed interest in continuing to work with each other and we are planning to hold similar events in the upcoming months to provide assistance to students applying to colleges.
IFSA/TORCH Sandra Cisneros Convocation
Carleton brought 35 Northfield middle school and high school students to a convocation speech given at Skinner Memorial Chapel by Sandra Cisneros, an acclaimed Chicana writer and advocate of education for Latino youth. The event connected five Carleton students with the Northfield students after the convocation to discuss the speech and the book The House on Mango Street, which the middle school students had read in their ESL course. The Northfield students were able to meet briefly with Sandra Cisneros for a photo after the speech and she spoke with them personally about the importance of continuing their education.
Summer Science Fellows/TORCH Lab Tours and Dinner
This event connected six Carleton students from a Summer Science Fellows program with eight students from the TORCH program at Northfield High School for tours of the students research labs at Carleton and a dinner in the dining hall together. The goal of the Carleton Summer Science Fellows program is to increase the number of individuals from under-represented groups in the sciences through summer research funding. With these Carleton students, the Northfield students had the opportunity to see science labs at Carleton, talk to them about college, their research, career goals, and their interest in science, and share a meal in the campus dining hall. We are planning a similar event for Northfield high school girls during Winter Term 2011.
Faribault High School Student Field Trip to Carleton (MEA Break)
During the MEA break, Anna Fure-Slocum '12 along with a group of other Carleton students brought a group of 18 Faribault High School students to Carleton College for an afternoon. The students received a tour of the school given by admissions staff and then participated in a scavenger hunt around the campus led by Carleton College students to learn more about the college and spend time becoming familiar with a college campus. The Carleton students also ate pizza with the igh school students and answered their questions about college after the scavenger hunt. Participating high school students were mostly of Somali background, along with one Latino student.
Summer Programming:
Camp Sol Summer Program in Faribault
This summer, we partnered with Growing Up Healthy and SHAC (So How Are the Children) in Faribault to provide afternoon programming for youth four days a week (Monday-Thursday) throughout the summer in the Four Seasons and the Cannon Valley neighborhoods in Faribault. These community neighborhoods house mainly Somali and Latino families, respectively. The afternoon sessions were led by a group of Carleton College students and a recent alumnus from the Northfield Public Schools TORCH program who is now in college. High school-age individuals in both neighborhoods helped with coordinating the activities and supervising youth. The camps included a daily component of science curriculum along with a range of hands-on activities. On Fridays, a group of high school students met with Carleton College students around college access to improve college readiness skills and answer questions about the college application process.