Keeping Teen Stress At Bay With College Preparation

By Lauren Tyson

Students everywhere rejoice when summer finally arrives. Video games, social outings, and personal time can all be expected during the interim between school years. But for many high school seniors, summer marks the transition from high school graduate to college freshman.

The transition from high school graduate to college freshman is typically brief. It lasts all of one summer and high school students feel no better equipped to handle the challenges of college life than they did at high school graduation. They are stepping apprehensively into unknown territory with little to no college preparation.

Studying is a prime example of this. Many students accustomed to smaller, informal classroom settings can become overwhelmed with large, impersonal lecture-style classrooms. Suddenly, asking questions in front of an audience of hundreds can be intimidating, and requesting that a professor slow down for note-taking purposes is unlikely. Often students go through trial by fire, making critical errors that can have a lasting effect on their grade point averages.

The benefits of a college summer program can give a student the advantage they need to successfully transition into a college environment. They address realistic problems and occurrences in everyday college life: more challenging classes, more homework and reading, studying techniques, indecision regarding academic career tracts, financial pressures and responsibilities, brand new social situations, and the overarching issue of time management. Though academics should remain a student's primary focus, in reality, college is about new life experiences and gaining insight into their potential futures, so it is necessary for college students to be aware of all of the possible pitfalls that they may encounter.

SuperCamp offers a college success program called Quantum U that addresses all of these issues and more with a unique framework called the 8 Keys of Excellence. The overall message is simple: Success in all aspects of life depends on you. The 8 Keys consist of the following principles: Integrity, Failure Leads To Success, Speak With Good Purpose, This Is It!, Commitment, Ownership, Flexibility, and Balance. Personal responsibility will be their watchword under the inspiration of the 8 Keys.

Another concept Quantum U stands by is Everything Speaks. No matter what a student is doing, the environment they surround themselves in has an inverse affect on their mood, attitude, and the results of what they are trying to accomplish. Consider studying on an organized, orderly desk versus studying on a chaotic mass of papers and books. The results could be wildly different!

Independent studies show that of over 6,000 SuperCamp and Quantum U graduates, 73% reported improved grades, 68% increased motivation, 83% increased confidence, and 98% continued to used the high school and college skills they learned long after camp had ended. College preparation can give students very real results that can help catapult them forward on the path toward personal achievement.

College preparation can give students invaluable learning and life skills to help them succeed in college, professional, and personal lives. Megan Adams, a SuperCamp graduate of the Quantum U program had this to say about her experiences: "[Quantum U] was the most life changing experience of my life thus far and I have recommended it to all my friends and all my mom's friends for their kids. I don't really know that you can completely put into word the amazingness of it... the whole program should be a requirement at some point in all kids' lives." Every student should have the same opportunity to get a head start on college success.

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