Albemarle County Public Schools encourages attendance at virtual college and career planning night

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - Albemarle County Public Schools will be sharing ideas Thursday night for students and their families about options after graduation that go beyond simply heading off to college.

“We recognize that this is an overwhelming time trying to think about post-secondary plans. This is a way to provide information about all opportunities for students,” Meghan Parsons, the director of school counseling for Albemarle County High School, said.

Parsons says life after high school can look very different during a pandemic.

“With all the changes that are going on with COVID and the pandemic and with us having to end school last spring, we did not get to offer the same information we typically do with families,” Parsons said.

That’s why Albemarle County Public Schools are coming together to host a virtual college and career planning night open to everyone.

“We’re going to be talking about things like apprenticeships, different types of training opportunities, the opportunity to think about developing your career interests and pursuing a two year associates degree,” Kimberly Link, the working community based learning coordinator for ACPS, said.

The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a panel of admissions counselors from the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, James Madison University, Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC), the University of Richmond, and Appalachian State University.

“We’re really excited to expand the narrative about post-graduation and what the future can look like,” Link said.

Later in the evening around 6:30, families will be able to choose two out of eight 25 minute breakout sessions to attend. Some of the topics for the sessions include financial aid, preparing for the college application process, military opportunities, NCAA eligibility, and career planning.

“We want to make sure we included multiple opportunities like military, career planning, PVCC, and the transfer programs because we recognize not everyone is looking at a four-year college,” Parsons said.

Getting students and their families to start planning ahead is what this event is all about.

“The event is open to everybody. We encourage seniors down to freshmen to attend this event,” Parsons said.

Families and parents can join the 5:30 p.m. information sessions online through this link: https://k12albemarle.zoom.us/j/92070886908?pwd=YVhhSndSWmt6UEg2NkpuZ2gvY3dIQT09. The Meeting ID is 920 7088 6908 and the passcode is 6LjXb!.

At 6:30 p.m., participants can join presentations on specific topics. Information on these topics and access links to these presentations are available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19-V_zftbPELB-KmM6OrYzYLjW07DxrWGMZZZMLBGfgw/edit

Copyright 2020 WVIR. All rights reserved.