As this semester of the 2022-23 school year nears its end, the seniors of Thomas E. Edwards Sr. High School (TEHS) are preparing for what’s to come after they graduate high school. That preparation includes choices for career and college. To help seniors prepare, TEHS counselor Makendra Mitchell invited Tougaloo College to the school. Tougaloo College is a private, historically black college (HBCU) in the Tougaloo area of Jackson. Paul and Alma Scott, representatives from Tougaloo, surprised TEHS seniors with a visit on Friday, December 2.
According to Mitchell, “Tougaloo’s purpose was to provide students with an opportunity to learn about what Tougaloo has to offer. As an HBCU, Tougaloo prides itself on the ability to provide students with a life-altering learning experience. Additionally, students who attend Tougaloo College are fortunate enough to experience college in a small, intimate setting. During the visit, students learned about the cost of attendance, majors offered, scholarships available, and much more. All members of the Class of 2023 who attended this visit were granted on-the-spot admissions, but none of them committed. When I asked Vanessa Sibley-Gooden, Career and College Readiness teacher and senior sponsor at TEHS, what she thinks Tougaloo’s visit meant for the students, she stated, “It’s the next step towards their futures after high school. To attend an HBCU college that has a small family environment will nurture them from childhood to adulthood while furthering their education.”
Time is flying by so fast that it will be May, 2023 in the blink of an eye. The support of people like Mitchell and Sibley-Gooden is imperative in helping the seniors make wise decisions concerning their futures. More is sure to come to help them navigate through the uncertainty of what they can/will do once they exit the halls of TEHS. Students will have the opportunity to visit the campus of Tougaloo in the spring.
