Students looking to transfer to four-year universities will get a chance to visit certain California four-year institutions thanks to the Contra Costa College Career/Transfer Center.
The Center’s “Get on The Bus! Transfer Campus Tours” event allows students to take a trip to visit four-year universities.
“The purpose of the program is to empower students and give them the sense of experiencing a day on a four-year university campus with a real sense of experience,” transfer counselor Andrea Phillips said.
UC Davis and Samuel Merritt College will be upcoming stops on the tour. This is the fourth year in a row the Career/Transfer Center is holding this event.
On previous trips, CCC alums have been invited to speak at certain college stops.
The project is aimed at empowering students and providing them with the experience of visiting a college campus to which they aspire to transfer.
Phillips said the Transfer Campus Tour will go to UC Davis on Nov. 11 and Samuel Merritt College (in Oakland) on Dec. 7. Each trip is limited to 50 students.
Of the students already planning to make the Davis trip, 15 are Middle College High School.
The event is open to everyone and registration is on a first come, first served basis. Students who attend the event will be provided with a free lunch in the school’s cafeteria and there will be a speaker and orientation on the campus as well.
Students will visit classrooms, dorm rooms and experience an orientation event or speaking event.
Liberal arts major Nicole Aiwaz has been attending CCC for two and half years and said she thinks these events are a good idea.
“I think attending other college campuses helps students conceptualize what the next level of education is like,” Aiwaz said. “This is the first time I have heard of this (program) or else I would have planned on going in advance. I think I’ve only received one email about it,” she said.
Psychology major Karla Jimenez said the Campus Transfer Tours sound like fun, but scheduling conflicts keep her from attending any of the tour dates.
“I’ve heard of the tour because my friends have gone before and they told me what it’s like. It sounds really fun. If I didn’t have a really hard English class on Fridays I would register to go,” she said.
Another campus tour will be happening next year. This one is a national tour.
The Career/Transfer Center will hold a “Get on the Plane Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Tour” from March 31 through April 5. Selected CCC students will join community college students from across California on a tour of HBCUs.
The colleges students will visit on the tour include Bowie State University, Hampton University, Howard University, Lincoln University and Morgan State University.
Applications for the event opened Oct. 2 and will close Nov. 29. Tour participants will visit the National Museum of African-American History and Culture and sight-see through Washington D.C.