VGCC Male Mentees Attend College Round-Up

The Vance-Granville Community College Male Mentoring Program sponsored a day-long trip to Tarboro for the student mentees to attend the 2015 College Round-Up Event that was held on the campus of Edgecombe Community College in March. This annual event has been presented by The Black Heritage Museum & Cultural Center Inc. for the past 14 years. Fifteen mentees from three VGCC campuses attended the event, accompanied by four of the Male Mentoring Coaches.

There were over 30 colleges and universities represented, including schools from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and as far away as Alabama and Louisiana.  The event also featured vendors, breakout sessions and workshops on topics that were relevant for high school and community college students who were planning on attending or transferring to a four-year university.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Nkrumah D. Lewis, distinguished college professor, entrepreneur, social activist and author of “Becoming A Butterfly: From Prison to Ph.D.” Dr. Lewis came to VGCC during the Fall 2014 semester to address students . In his message at the College Round-Up, he encouraged students to take advantage of the opportunities that were available for them at the event that day.

Hundreds of students from high schools and community college throughout the state attended the free event and took advantage of the opportunity to apply to universities, and in some cases, to be accepted on the spot. In addition, a number of the schools offered scholarships and other free funding sources to students who presented their transcripts and met certain academic requirements.

“The mentees who attended represented VGCC in a very positive manner, and several of them applied and got accepted to a few of the colleges,” said Anthony M. Pope, VGCC Male Mentoring Co-coordinator. “I felt that this event was a great networking opportunity for the mentees to talk with recruiters face-to-face.”

Supported by a grant from the N.C. Community College System, the male mentoring initiative at VGCC supports the educational and professional aspirations of male students through an active, intensive, and engaging process of academic coaching and case management. The goals of the program are to keep participating students in school, to increase their graduation rate and to increase their rate of transferring to four-year colleges and universities. For more information, contact Anthony Pope at (252) 738-3395.

 

Above: From left, keynote speaker Dr. Nkrumah Lewis, VGCC Business Administration instructor Delton Farmer and VGCC Basic Skills instructor Marvilo Gay at the recent College Round-Up event.