Annually, Howard County Public School Systems(HCPSS) conducts a program titled “March to the Future”. The event is aimed to help students in high schools with getting an idea of what college prep and SAT/ACT preparation will look like.
“March to the Future is a virtual series on post-high school planning. It is organized by HCPSS counselors and is open to all HCPSS students and families. At the conclusion of this school year, “March to the Future” will have run 26 sessions or workshops, each on a different topic. Topics were selected in an effort to meet the wide array of post-high school options to meet a spectrum of interests. Financial aid, athletics in college, college search, disabilities in college, college panels, HCC(Howard Community College), apprenticeships, trade schools, and military,” guidance counselor Mrs.Tasch said.
March to the Future includes sessions that are tailored to a specific need of a student such as financial aid and college sports. With every program that HCPSS does, there is an end goal to it, and March to the Future is no different.
“The goal is not only to bring awareness to post-high school options but also to help families understand what those options entail so that students can more easily navigate the post-high school process and proactively plan for each student’s future goals,” added Mrs.Tasch. March to the Futures’ end goal is to help bring awareness to options that can navigate the post-high school process in a manner that tailors each students’ needs. In the program, people from college admissions panels from different schools and universities such as John Hopkins, are coming virtually to explain the post-high school processes to rising college students. People from leading high schools such as Reservoir, Glenelg, and Centennial are also sending their college experts to assist students with the process. Students at Marriotts Ridge are hoping to benefit from these programs.
“I think that this program will benefit me to get into a good college and will help me with my life after high school. I hope it helps steer me in the right direction of a good college,” junior Garrett Weibking said.
Other students are looking forward to different aspects of the program. “Organizing college searches, getting into good colleges, and understanding SAT/ACT prep are some of the things that I am looking forward to in this program,” freshman Santhosh Venkateshwaran said.
Venkateshwaran says a very different aspect of the March to the Future program that Weibking didn’t touch on, but he thinks that this will be what is most beneficial for him. March to the Future is made for people who want to succeed after high school and get ready for college, trade school, military, or anything else. “It will help me be prepared for college, and will help me be prepared for what comes next in life,” sophomore Quinn Jenkins said.
Marriotts Ridge students will surely benefit with a splash of a great program that will be cherished for years to come.