By Arianna Pagenette ’18 | Staff Writer

During the summer, I will be continuing my summer programs at some of the nation’s highly selective universities, including Brown and Yale University.  One of the programs I attend requires applicants to write an essay from three options. The question I chose to write my essay on was: “tell us a question you think a selective college should ask and  how would you answer it?”

My answer would be, do you believe your high school education has provided you with the necessary skills and prepared you well to be successful in college?

As a student, I believe Grosse Pointe South has made opportunites for me to be successful and it provides a challenging curriculum to keep up with. This curriculum has been matched with educators who have instilled us as people to think critically.

Academically, we are knowledgeable as to the expectations and skills necessary to be successful in college.  To increase the prosperity, a mentorship program would be beneficial and would enhance my overall educational experience and preparedness.  As a student it has become my responsibility to search out additional programs to deepen my understanding and passion.  In addition, I found that I needed to work to develop relationships with educators who were willing to help guide me throughout high school.

My outside sources to strengthen my abilities were influenced from the classes that I took at Brown and Yale. The concept of grading was much different, considering we did not receive a grade for the courses. Instead, we were presented with feedback from the professors.

As a result of my experiences, my response to my question stated above was ambivalent.

At South, there are currently five counselors and 1684 students. Each counselor has about 336 students to guide and develop relationships with; 35 hours per week makes this potentially difficult.

What about our teachers? The ones sitting in the classroom with us. The ones who are preparing us to be successful. What if teachers became additional mentors? Each teacher would only need to have roughly 16 students at any given time.

What if we actually provided a classroom setting for students? One option could be eating lunch together once or twice a week.

Yes, this would take a strenuous scheduling program to accomplish, but having all the necessary skills to be successful in college and life would be worth it.

This time together could be used to further a student’s passion or help with writing college essays. Students would then have another educator to help guide them.

Since this is currently not a program offered at South, it was something I have taken personal accountability for.  I have developed relationships on my own with educators who aren’t even my teachers.  They have encouraged me to deepen my passions and at times have even asked if this is what I truly want.

Yes, having the capacity to think critically will serve us well in college.  But, having a mentor who will encourage us, guide us and ask the tough questions will prepare us not only for college, but also life.