St. Cloud Area School District 742 unveiled a new initiative this month to help students chart a successful course after high school, and St. Cloud State University is proud to be a community partner in making it possible.
District 742 Superintendent Laurie Putnam, who completed her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Administration at SCSU in 2019 and recently was named Minnesota Superintendent of the Year, wanted seniors to have a clear plan for their post-graduation life.
“What delights me about this community is we could have these ideas, and then people show up and make it happen,” Superintendent Putnam said. “It came together quickly because we have so many great folks that will step up for our kids.”
In August the idea for the Future 100 initiative came to life, picking a specific day to encourage St. Cloud Tech and St. Cloud Apollo High School students to either submit applications to a local university or college (SCSU, St. Cloud Technical & Community College or College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University), meet with military recruiters, connect with local employers or submit applications to institutions outside of the Greater St. Cloud Area.
“Our goal is that every one of our seniors has an idea or plan when they leave today about what they’d like to do after they walk across the stage in seven months for graduation,” said Apollo High School Principal Justin Skaalerud. “We’ve always wanted to do something like this, and the missing piece was us reaching out to our community. When we did, we couldn’t be more pleased with how they responded.”
Over 80 community members were at Apollo High School on Tuesday, volunteering their time to help students fill out applications and submit transcripts, along with numerous local businesses represented to speak with seniors. Many of the same representatives were at Tech High School the prior week.
Current SCSU students that were alumni from both schools also spoke at student panels to detail their college experiences and give advice to prospective students.
“It was great to hear from former Tech and Apollo students how their journey from their high school to SCSU has been during the student panel,” said SCSU Director of Admissions Michael Hanna. “They were also able to show how attending college is an option for anyone.”
Financial aid and admissions processes can be very complex for first generation students, so having volunteers with expertise explain the tasks was a huge bonus.
In order to help eliminate barriers for students, the event was held in October to line up with College Application and Awareness Month and Minnesota State Month, where the 33 colleges and universities of Minnesota State waive their undergraduate application fees for the entire month and there are no essays required for applications.
“We have 360 seniors, so to be able to help them figure out what that next chapter will be is huge,” said Tech High School Principal Molly Kensy. “Not only to figure it out, but to actually have them complete the steps to have them see it through.”
SCSU received 46 new Tech High School applications last week, with 26 Tech students already admitted before the event. They also received 53 applications at Apollo on Tuesday and had 14 accepted by the following day.
Future 100 also plans to bring back community volunteers to help high school students complete FAFSA in January 2025 and connect for follow-ups in April 2025. These steps will all help the greater goal of planting kids in the local community for the long-term.
“We couldn’t do this (event) without our community partnerships,” Kensy said. “We’re working together to build our community in hopes that even if they do go away for college, they return home and continue to see growth and success right here in St. Cloud.”
