MINNEAPOLIS — College enrollment continues to go down, but Minneapolis College has a plan to introduce eighth graders to its degrees and where they can take them.
Alex Williamson goes to Andersen United Middle, a ‘GEAR UP’ Minneapolis Public School, where at least half of the student body qualifies for free or reduced lunch.
He joined about 700 other eighth-graders who go to ‘GEAR UP’ schools to spend a day talking to different professors and employers.
“I’m interested in marine biology, zoology, music, graphic design, architecture, and maybe photography,” said Williamson. “This just helped me look deeper into what I wanted to do.”
Minneapolis College hopes the partnership will help set these students on their path.
“With college-going rates, we want to get exposure to kids younger, we want to help them kind of figure out what they want to do,” said Julie Poyzer, the Director of Career Services School with Minneapolis College.
The number of undergraduates enrolled in college is down 9.4% compared to two years ago, so the organization wants kids to start thinking about their future sooner.
“It’s just a variety of different programs,” said Poyzer. “But mainly we’re focusing on their career and technical programs.”
Hands-on, 20-minute sessions included aircraft, apparel, architectural technology, art, biology, business management, environmental science, graphic/web design, information technology, machine tool, nursing, photography and sleep technology.
