Two amazing days in Ohio

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Ohio and recruit for Skidmore's nationally recognized Opportunity Program. My travel partner was Kate, an academic advisor for the Opportunity Program.

Our connection flight was running late so we were rerouted to Dayton, Ohio via Charlotte, North Carolina. It didn’t make sense to us, but we got to our final destination safely but later than expected. Our travel karma seemed to balance out and our rental car turned out to be a convertible. The weather forecast was perfect convertible weathertoo!

A few hours after checking into our hotel, we were up and on our way to our visit to Meadowdale High School.

Kate in front of Meadowdale HS.

We were scheduled to spend the full day there and while it was a long day, it was one of the most amazing days I have had as a college admissions officer. Cheryl Lincoln, the only counselor at the school, was responsible for over 1100 students (and growing). She still managed to shuffle us off to the appropriate classrooms in addition to all of her other responsibilities. Drastic budget cuts have made the school day shorter but the students there are still eager to absorb everything their dedicated teachers give them. We met with all grade levels and encountered so many great students defying the odds. These are students who are ready to go to college and we hope to be able to help their transition to Skidmore (and other great institutions). My only regret is I didn’t have a chance to take pictures of any of the students on campus.

After a full day, Kate and I took Cheryl and an English teacher out to lunch. It was the least we could do to thank them for giving us an incredible opportunity to talk with so many of their students.

After the late lunch/early dinner, Kate and I drove about 3 hours to Cleveland. We were so emotionally (and physically) drained, we went straight to our rooms and went to bed.

The next morning we visited Cleveland School of the Arts. It is a magnet school and all of their students are incredibly talented. We had a chance to meet with all grade levels and take a tour of the school.

The choir showing us a little of their incredible talent.

I had the opprtunity to speak to the entire freshman class.

We witnessed the school choir practicing, a dance class in progress, and a tour of the photography and art studios. We finished the day with a late lunch with Carol Soljanick and another counselor from the school at an incredible restaurant, Nighttown.

We were even luky enough to drive through Cleveland on the way back to the airport!

The "tribe" had just come back to beat the Tigers.