The counseling office at RCHS has been organizing virtual college meets for those who are interested in gaining more information about life after high school and specifics about different colleges. There have been pre-recorded presentations, as well as one-on-one conversations about planning for college. The presentations include extra information about financial aid and describes the steps of the college application process.

The one-on-one meetings and group meetings have been taking place on Zoom and Google Meet. These online meetings are replacing those that would have been happening in person if not for COVID-19. Schools such as the local Washington and Lee University have also been holding informational meetings for those interested. Amber Cooper, the Assistant Director of Admissions at W&L, has been very involved with these activities. 

“W&L is definitely involved in meeting with high school students virtually,” said Cooper. “We’ve created a virtual visit page on our website that features our virtual campus tour, weekly information sessions called General Insight where we feature student panelists, virtual interviews for seniors, and a regional admissions presentation that we are hosting this month. Also, since admission counselors are not traveling this year, my colleagues and I have hosted virtual high school visits and attended virtual college fairs being hosted around the country. Essentially, we are trying to be as accessible as possible given the circumstances.”

Jonathan Webster, the Associate Dean of Admissions at W&L, has also been organizing many of the activities planned for the next few months.

“We have online one-on-one interviews with admission staff members, as well as weekly online information sessions with current W&L students plus an admission officer. Over the last few months, we’ve offered several other formats too. Last month, we offered a series of Zoom webinars to give a general overview of all things W&L, and we had students from 43 states and 10 or so countries sign up for those,” said Webster. “This month, we’ve offered a series of what we called ‘Office Hours’ meetings, which are organized regionally. They were more casual Q&A sessions, so that applicants could get questions answered and meet current W&L students and alumni, as well as the admission officer for their area. Those have mostly already happened, though we have a few more this week. We are not yet open to visitors, so we also have an online virtual campus tour. It’s pretty goodー360 pictures, and it’s narrated by two current students.”

Virtual meetings for the college have been successful, and students have been attending in high quantities. RCHS, on the other hand, has not had as much luck with their virtual college meets. Counselor Lisa van Ravenswayy works in the counseling office and has been utilizing technology to help set up these meetings. 

Though the turnout was not as expected, this new way of communication is new to everyone, and the next few months will continue to bring challenges for the graduating class of 2021.