Students involved in Improve Your Tomorrow toured Edgewood University as the organization continues to show opportunities for post-secondary education.
On May 22, around 40 high school students from around the greater Madison area learned more about Edgewood University, its offerings and got a look at what college life there could be. The tour is part of Improve Your Tomorrow’s mission to get more students of color enrolled in colleges and universities through mentorship and exposure to post-secondary education. Its Wisconsin branch, which was launched late last year, currently operates in Capitol, La Follette and Verona high schools.
One of its core beliefs is that students need to see themselves in secondary education. College tours, like the most recent one at Edgewood University, help to accomplish that.
For Aaron Broadwater, Improve Your Tomorrow Wisconsin’s associate program director, conversations about college early are key to finding your way into post-secondary education.
“We never talked about college in my household. I never even knew that [my parents] attempted to go to college and didn’t make it past the first semester,” Broadwater said.
In eighth grade, Broadwater’s uncle took him to an HBCU tour where they hit 14 different universities with students from a few different schools. They lived in hotels for about a week as they visited them, but that marked the time when Broadwater was able to actually see himself in college.
“I didn’t even think that it was an option for me at the time,” Broadwater said. “I never thought about it, but after that moment, seeing all those different institutions, seeing students that look like me with their backpacks on, I remember being at the lunch rooms. I was just so flabbergasted, like, ‘Wow. It’s cool to go to school.'”
That experience changed Broadwater’s life, and he hopes that tours to schools like Edgewood University will change the lives of students across Dane County.
However, the key is to reach students as soon as possible, Broadwater said.
“If I learned that… and it changed my whole thought process that fast, imagine being able to do that with these students as early as sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th and all the way through. It’s inevitable for them to see themselves in some form of post-secondary education for sure,” he said.
Broadwater has been on the two most recent tours with Improve Your Tomorrow. The last one, at Madison College, and the most recent at Edgewood. After the first, two students who are set to graduate decided to fill out college applications and one has already been accepted.
“For me, that was the epitome of why we do this. That student, who has all the potential in the world, finally took that leap of faith, but it took him going on this college tour to put together all the things we’ve discussed with them,” Broadwater said.
Students started the tour a bit shy and quiet. They were mixed around among the three high schools to form their own groups for a tour, so students weren’t too familiar with each other.
They had a small icebreaker session to hear about what they’re interested in for school and plans — if they have them already. It went on to an information session by Edgewood and later a full tour of the campus.
Madison365 tagged along with one of the smaller groups that was led by Edgewood alumnus Aidan Williams, who now works as a freshman admissions counselor at the university.
(Photo by Omar Waheed)
Williams imparted his experience as a student, an athlete and what the high schoolers can expect in their daily lives.
Ronald Reed, a freshman at Verona High School, didn’t initially have Edgewood on his map for potential places to attend, but grew increasingly more excited as the tour continued.
When the tour passed the mini-convenience store on campus, Reed stated excitedly, “You don’t have to leave campus to get snacks for your room.”
Reed is a fan of the smaller class sizes. When he pictured college, he imagined a big lecture hall with hundreds of students.
“That’s just so anxiety-inducing and scary,” Reed said. “When we saw the actual lecture hall, I was assuming that’s what all classrooms were like. But [Edgewood], they look like a regular classroom/ I feel like, to me, that’s such a big factor. It adds so much.”
Reed hasn’t settled on where he would like to go yet, as he does have a few more years of high school left.
He has been on other college tours in the past. In middle school, he toured the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A few weeks ago, with Improve Your Tomorrow, he toured Madison College’s Goodman South Campus. Reed hopes to study finance in college.
