KAILUA-KONA — There’s a lot for today’s high schoolers to consider these days — what to do after graduation, where to go, how to pay for it.
With all of that focus on their future, students also need to keep on top of their studies in the classroom, giving enough attention to both what’s next as well as what’s now.
It’s an opportunity Rebecca Durrer, founder of Be College Ready, sees in preparing students for their future, whatever that might mean for each individual student.
“One of the things I found that was my passion and also was a need was helping students get into college,” said Durrer, who’s been in education throughout her career. “Because we have in the school systems teachers that teach and counselors that counsel, but there’s a gap of once they graduate, how do we help them get to where they want to be?”
And the process of applying and getting into college, she said, is very different from what it was even a decade ago. And there’s so much to know even before taking the first steps.
Be College Ready aims to help kids navigate that space between getting ready to leave high school and getting accepted to college, from preparing for standardized tests like the SAT and ACT to researching universities throughout the country to find which one fits a student best.
“You really want to match your personality and your academic interest with what the universities offer,” Durrer said, also emphasizing the importance of researching retention and graduation rates.
Durrer also aims to help students with the common application and finding money for higher education.
Cloë Parks, a senior at West Hawaii Explorations Academy — where Durrer has been working with both juniors and seniors in recent months — said many of her peers have an idea of where they want to go and what they want to do, but Durrer’s been a big help in helping them organize their goals and honing each student’s vision.
And having Durrer help with scholarships, Parks added, has been a huge help for seniors.
“Because that’s definitely what we’re thinking about right now,” she said, “like ‘OK, I know where I’m going to go for the most part and what I’m going to do, but how am I going to pay for this and how am I going to function as an adult on my own?’”
Durrer said so far 12 students have been accepted into universities this year with two students receiving full ride scholarships, one to a private university and another to the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Durrer said she also recently started working with seniors at Kealakehe High and Konawaena High schools to help them find scholarship money. Durrer is also open to offering evening workshops for youth organizations in North and South Kona.
Juniors at WHEA also said they’ve reaped a benefit from having Durrer’s help.
“You’re kind of secluded in Hawaii. You have your own little group, you’re on an island away from the mainland and a lot of places,” said junior Aria Wiley. “So you kind of would like a footstep out that’s guided by someone, so you understand what the big world is and where you can go and how to get there.”
Heather Nakakura, director of WHEA, said while many of the larger schools can get guidance counselors, it’s been a position WHEA hasn’t been able to fund.
“We bring up scholarships, we give it all out, but we don’t have someone who just focuses on that,” said Nakakura. “And so having Rebecca contact me was sort of this amazing opportunity, because she sort of filled in this niche that we really needed.”
Nakakura herself is the mother of a senior and said she learned a lot from a parents night Durrer organized.
And the students said having someone like Durrer take that level of interest and consideration for students’ plans and aspirations makes a difference for students given how overwhelming the process can be.
“So having someone who has worked with a lot of people and has the experience of going to college and is just overall knowledgeable on that subject and using that to figure out what college would be good for you and in your learning style, that’s really amazing,” said Wiley.
Durrer said she also wants to bring more of an individualized approach for students. While the “hows” of things like the common application can be taught in a group setting, actually choosing what colleges to which a student is applying is a much more personal decision.
“And if they really are able to look at it in that sense,” she said, “they’re going to find a much happier fit for where they want to be for the next four years.”
Junior Quinn Williams said she appreciates the “really personalized experience” Durrer brings with her.
“Instead of being like ‘You have to do this and, I’m here to help, but you’re still doing it on your own,’ it definitely feels like Rebecca is there as someone you can definitely talk to and as a friend who’s really interested in seeing you go where you want to go,” Williams said.
Students at the school are often able to connect with mentors in the community in a variety of professional fields. And just as those mentors can help students connect with careers or fields of study they might want to pursue, Durrer acts as a sort of college mentor, helping kids get from where they are now to where they want to go.
“Meeting these people and knowing they’re out there — because they work with them as a mentor — and then having Rebecca come in and connect it,” Nakakura said, “I think it just bridges and makes it more achievable for them.”
