Educational
1) College Counseling
American School Counselor Association (ASCA) and National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) recommends that schools strive to maintain a 250:1 student-to-counselor ratio while the national student-to-counselor ratio is 482:1. These numbers are even higher at poor school districts where people of color and immigrants attend. In addition to low student-to-counselor ratio, wealthy and well-educated families can already accommodate to hire an “admissions chemist” to get the most help for their children, while low-income and first-generation students endure with crowded counseling offices at public high schools.
As Ace It Education, we are aware of these discrepancies and stepped forward to help needy high school students and families who live in Suffolk, Essex, and Middlesex counties as well as in New England region during the college and financial aid application process. Most of our needy families are immigrated to the U.S. and have little or no knowledge of the U.S. higher education system.
We provide the following services to families and students:
1) Seminars about the college application process, college types, and financial aid
2) Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion help
3) Individual and group meetings
4) Essay writing workshops
5) College visits
Each year, more and more families have been reaching to us for help with their children’s college applications. However, our limited budget prevents us from reaching these (and more) families and students in this manner, and we currently can serve just to a limited number of students.
2) Accommodation Support
We, Ace IT Education do help to low-income and minority high school and college students who need accommodation in Suffolk, Essex, and Middlesex counties. We support students who cannot afford housing or struggling to find an available place for living during their education. Students meet at our branches and network to solve their accommodation problems. We gather those students and try to set up houses for them. We have arranged for 5 apartments for 21 students since 2015. We currently have 13 more applicants who are looking for accommodation. Those applicants are students at MIT, Boston College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Brandeis, Framingham State, North Shore Community College, Quincy College, and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.
3) Youth Retreat Camps
We organize youth camps each season to bring the students together. We organize three to four youth camps per year and participation ranges from 5 to 20. It is held on holidays and in various locations throughout Massachusetts. Youth camp consists of reading sessions where students can relax from university workload and catch up on books they read. Our program directors, who are mostly counselors, former campers and who study at the best schools, help the students in positioning themselves in the society and social environments. Camps also have range of activities from sightseeing to board games but more importantly, it provides opportunity for students connect with each other. It provides a means for high school students to find mentors in their interested fields among university students and ask for advice.
4) Student Visits for Adaptation
We have been trying to support all the students who have reached to us. Along with counseling, accommodation, or youth camps, we do first year visits to support their adaptation to school. Our target students are from different schools especially MIT, Harvard, Brandeis, Bunker Hill Community College, Tufts, and Boston College. We are organizing those visits with our volunteer professional college counselors to guide the students academically and financially.
5) College Mentorship
To find internships and jobs, college students’ need counseling from experienced people. We match our alumni or academicians with the students who need professional counseling. To better serve our applicants to find better internships or jobs, we are seeking to hire professional counselors.