Newspaper Page Text
(—FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS—Sunday, March 28,1M9
PAGE 8H
Career planning
Research your future on the Internet
By Shannon Holland
News Intern
In the eyes of prospective stu
dents, the thought of college selec
tion looms ahead through much
confusion and misunderstanding.
The average high school student
debates over scholarship informa
tion, financial aid and what school
would best fit independent needs. Computer technol
ogy and other elements of technology, however, have
made choices a little easier to manage.
The use of Internet searches has proved to be a
popular tool for aspiring college students. Its sim
plicity makes it a first choice system to be used, as
the student can simply log on to several offered
sights - such as fastweb.com, for example - and
enter a portfolio of personal information, such as
college choices, priority majors and more. Colleges
and scholarship programs will then get back to them
quickly and efficiently in most cases, and these web
sites offer a wider variety of scholarships and are
distributed to a wider range of people.
In the area of technology service, the Georgia
Financial Aid Commission (GFAC) is a free service
to call for further educational information, and some
of the great benefit lies within the fact that the pro
fessionals offer a wide variety of different resources
and offer one-on-one help with complicated govern
ment forms. GFAC is also very HOPE scholarship
oriented and offers information that is difficult to
find elsewhere.
Further along on the technology scale, the Georgia
GC breaks ground for science building
Groundbreaking ceremonies for
Gainesville College’s new science
building were conducted on
Sunday, Jan. 31 at the proposed
site of the building, with approxi
mately 200 of the college’s sup
porters attending. The ground
breaking was preceded by the
32nd annual meeting of the
Gainesville College Foundation.
GC President Martha T. Nesbitt
presided at the event. Dr. Nesbitt
stated: “This is not a ‘nice to
have’ building, this is a ‘must
have’ building.” Dr. Nesbitt also
read a letter from Gov. Roy
Barnes, who was unable to attend.
In the letter, Barnes stated: “This
NGCSU named best buy for college education
. the high cost of a college
Education, parents and students
•must look for alternative resolu
tions to pay for college. Since
-1980, college tuition has risen
tnore than twice the amount of
inflation, but fortunately there are
‘ in the country which have
.kept costs low while ensuring aca
demics are the key to the school.
North Georgia College & State University, a co-ed
- .‘military university, was recently named a “best buy”
vin the book, “America’s 100 Best College Buys.” To
?be included, colleges have to have costs below the
average and an incoming freshman class all
‘l-with a grade point average above the national aver
•age. These “value-added” colleges were compiled
from more than 1,600 colleges and universities and
kome from 38 different states, with a mixture of
Darge, medium and small schools such as Florida
the University of Kansas, the College of
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H ALSO ENROLLING INFANTS - AFTERSCHOOLERS
The use of
Internet searches
has proved to be a
popular tool for
aspiring
i
independent scholarships along with helpful point
ers on career choices.
Logging online to chat has proven to be beneficial
as well. By doing so, students can gain advice from
others who are in the same predicament as them
selves, and it also supplies information from experts
in the field of scholarships, colleges and financial
aid. Chat lines make it possible to gather informa
tion from around the world, of all levels of knowl
edge about the situation, however, students must be
particularly careful of the risk of running into false
information.
If prospective students are curious about a certain
college of interest, they can log on to that particular
college’s web page. This is a particularly useful way
to keep in tone with the schools of choice to deter
mine the scholarships, opportunities, the amount of
money the school is willing to spend and other per
sonal information about school policy.
Computer technology has become one of the most
essential elements in making college and scholar
ship choices and is an efficient, beneficial way to
receive important information that will impact the
students of today for a lifetime.
state-of-the-art science building is
a very important addition to
Gainesville College, as it will pro
vide an exceptional environment
for teaching and learning in the
new millennium.”
Barnes also commended the
community for coming out in
force to support this project when
it was in danger of being cut from
the budget early last year.
GC Executive Vice President
Katherine Fuller provided a
description of the science build
ing, which will house the
Division of Natural Science and
Technology. It will contain 12
labs, four lecture halls, five gen-
* TheROTC
program was
ranked in the top 5
percent in the
nation...
99
ROTC program was ranked in the
top 5 percent of college and universities in the nation
in commission performance by the United States
Army. Also a bachelor of science in computer sci
ence and a master of science in rural primary family
nurse practitioner degrees were added.
Enrollment for fall 1998 reached nearly 3,400 with
450 Corps of Cadet members, the Lady Saints
Basketball Team was named 10th in the NAIA
Academic Honor Roll with a combined team grade
point average of 3.38, and NGCSU added an inter
collegiate women’s soccer team.
For more information, call (706) 864-1949.
EDUCATION
Career Information System
(GCIS) is a career information
search that offers college scholar
ship options and can be found in
the guidance department of each
high school in the community. It
benefits many students, as it can
be used at school for those stu
dents who do not have access to a
personal computer. GCIS offers
eral classrooms, 28 faculty/staff
offices, three computers (one of
which is for the award winning
Geographical Information System
program), conference room and a
well appointed space for students
to gather. She announced the
almost 60,000-square-foot facility
has a project budget of SB.B mil
lion. Warren Epstein &
Associates is the architect and J.
Kinson Cook Inc., is the contrac
tor.
Other participants on the pro
gram were Regent Ed Jenkins,
Congressman Nathan Deal and
state Reps. Carl Rogers, Clint
Smith and James Mills.
Charleston and NGCSU.
Other achievements of NGCSU
include: being named 18th safest
college in the United States by
Healey Roman Associates, was
ranked in the second tier of top
universities in the South by U.S.
News and World Report; the
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High schoolers get head start with PSO
By Lisa Renzi
News Intern
As my final year at Forsyth
Central High School approached, I
was faced with the option to enroll
in a particularly unusual addition to
my standard curriculum, the Post
Secondary Option (PSO) program.
My response consisted of the state
ment, “Is that the room with the
carpeted walls?” Needless to say, I
knew little about PSO and less
about the potential benefits that I
might have in store.
The PSO program is a collabora
tive effort in which students that
score at or above certain levels on
the SAT and have met certain pre
requisite classes have the opportuni
ty to participate in college classes
with Gainesville College for both
high school and college credit.
The more I thought about the pos
sible opportunities, the more I
decided the PSO program might be
a worthy venture. I found the pro
gram is designed to allow high
school students to participate over
video connection in actual classes
at the college, without the hassle of
leaving the high school environ
ment.
In general, students have the
opportunity to take Advanced
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A College Preparatory Curriculum I
and /' I
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1,309 Enrollment - t e
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Under Construction I
* Transportation & After-School Care Norcross
* Advanced Computer Technology 770-243-2274
Over 450 Student Work Stations 1 I
Greater Atlanta Christian School admits students of any race, color, and national origin. fl|
Placement classes with the option
of taking an exam to determine if
college credit can be awarded for
that particular class. In the PSO
program, however, students take the
actual class from the college at the
same time others on the college
campus have the same opportunity.
The design of the classroom envi
ronment is truly unique, as students
at the “Forsyth campus” of
Gainesville College view the pro
fessor’s lecture from two television
screens which allow them to see the
professor, their fellow Gainesville
classmates and any devices the pro
fessor might use to make the lecture
more effective, such as video or
projection devices built into the sys
tem. The Gainesville students have
an open microphone system in
class that allows them to speak
freely and be heard by the Forsyth
students, and the Forsyth students
communicate through a micro
phone system that registers directly
into the Gainesville classroom with
an extremely minute amount of
delay or interference.
I had many questions regarding
the effectiveness of the program,
such as the amount of communica
tion that takes place between the
two schools, the ability to ask ques-'
tions and the availability of access
Students at Forsyth Central
High School, including Forsyth
County News’ own intern, Lisa
Renzi (far left), take part in the
Postsecondary Option pro
gram to get a jump on college.
One video monitor shows the
instructor, on campus at the
college, and another shows
the college students, who are
also on the college campus.
The high schoolers never
leave the grounds of their own
school.
Photo/Tom Brooks
to Gainesville’s resources. My con
cerns, however, were appeased
once I decided to enroll in the pro
gram.
On the first day of PSO, I entered
my Psychology 1101,
Communications 1100 and
Precalculus 1113 classes with some
apprehension, not knowing if I
would be able to understand the
technology involved. I, along with
my fellow classmates, were shown
that the technology was quite easy
to maneuver and that we were able
to participate in each of the activi
ties that the Gainesville students
were able to complete. We were
able to excel at a level far above
that of a standard high school class
and received the benefits of early
credit for the classes we had com
pleted.
Classes for the year consisted of
speech, psychology, precalculus,
calculus, government and econom
ics, and each unit of credit remains
transferable to colleges and univer
sities all over the nation. The PSO
program ended up being one of the
best choices I made during my high
school career, as I have been able to
achieve an “edge” on others enter
ing college, the true definition of
technology aiding in the growth of
progress.