Georgia College Advising Corps News

The adage that "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" might feel very real to high school students preparing for their path to college, particularly navigating the college admission process and financial aid applications. The anxiety and uncertainty of how to begin can make that first step difficult or insurmountable without a guide.

Brook Thompson joined IHE on July 1 as the director of the Georgia College Advising Corps. She brings wide experience with college access programs, recruitment and retention among diverse populations, and school-college-community networks.

Jessica Robinson, director of the Georgia College Advising Corps (GCAC), received the Data Driven Program Director Award from the College Advising Corps (CAC). The announcement came during the organization's national leadership retreat. The award recognizes Jessica's emphasis on tracking actionable data and using it to achieve sustained results.

Georgia College Advising Corps (GCAC) advisers Delisha Hodo and Brionna Johnson were presented the 2019 Peter and Laurie Grauer True North award on December 10 at the national College Advising Corps’ (CAC) annual Summit, held this year in Boston. Laurie Grauer, chairman of Bloomberg L.P. and CAC founding board chair, along with CAC founder and CEO Nicole Hurd, presented the awards.

Yarbrah Peeples (Ph.D. 2012) is the new Senior Regional Director, East for the national College Advising Corps (CAC). She will be guiding and supporting initiatives that expand CAC’s reach and also deepen its impact across eight states in the Southeast and Northeast.

Yarbrah will provide leadership and support to the four eastern regional directors, cultivating relationships with key stakeholders and senior university leaders, and identifying and advancing new opportunities for expansion.

The Georgia College Advising Corps celebrated its tenth anniversary with a special luncheon and networking activities for current and former advisers, friends and staff of the program on May 29. The event kicked off with a welcome from interim provost and GCAC founder, Libby Morris. Dr. Morris closed her remarks by thanking the advisers and complimenting their efforts, "I am proud that our program has reached so many young people, opening for them doors of educational opportunity."

The fall 2018 newsletter highlights the outstanding work of the twenty-one GCAC college advisers who are increasing opportunites for 4,543 high school seniors this year. This adviser-produced newsletter is just one more way that GCAC college advisers leverage their time and skills to address issues of college access. Highlights are listed below.

BEGINNING IN 2009 with four advisers, the Georgia College Advising Corps (GCAC)—an outreach program of the IHE—has grown to include twenty-one advisers embedded in sixteen high schools. The advisers assist students through the complex college admissions process to increase the number of matriculants from low-income, first-generation, or other historically underrepresented backgrounds.

In addition to being an IHE alumna, Yarbrah served for six years as program director for the Georgia College Advising Corps (GCAC), an outreach program of UGA's Institute of Higher Education.

In her new national role, she will support current programs in Georgia and South Carolina (including GCAC) and assist with the onboarding of new programs across the country. Yarbrah says, “My goal is to help programs increase their impact so they can help more underserved students achieve their dreams of attending and graduating from college.”

Robinson has served as the program coordinator of GCAC since May 2017, and over the past year, Robinson was instrumental in strengthening program recruitment, logistics and communications.

In her new role as director, Robinson oversees GCAC program development and evaluation, supervises the near-peer advisers, and coordinates with the participating high schools and other GCAC partners. She also assumes responsibility for grant writing, program promotion, fundraising and budget management.

The Georgia College Advising Corps (GCAC) — an outreach program of the University’s Institute of Higher Education — is a college access program that works to help low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students enter college. GCAC helps students find their way to college by placing well-trained recent college graduates in high schools to work one-on-one with students as they navigate the college admissions process, including researching college options, completing applications and applying for financial aid.

The work of IHE’s Georgia College Advising Corps in helping underserved students apply for college was noted in a recent entry on the Washington Post’s “Answer Sheet” blog. Local education activist Bertis Downs penned an opinion piece, posted on Oct. 29, citing “good ideas” that are proving effective in Athens public schools – among them the placing, through GCAC, of a recent college graduate in Clarke Central High School to advise and assist students in preparing for college.

The Georgia College Advising Corps met July 7-August 1 for training at UGA. The group participated in workshops at the Institute of Higher Education before a week of traveling the state to visit diverse college campuses.

This year’s advisers are Ashley Hollins, Tenisha Peterson, Chelsea Smith, Silki Modi, Melanie Harper, Andrea Green, Gianna Medina, Shayla McGlothan, Tanacia Lovence, Bri Hart, Jasman Ware, Shaquila Wise, Olivia Knight, Darnell Shelton. Amber Aucoin, Austin Lyke, Chris Farr, and Victor Onukwuli

The Georgia College Advising Corps–a college-access program sponsored by the Institute of Higher Education–continues to expand its reach and pile up impressive statistics in its efforts to assist low-income and underrepresented students get to college. In 2015-2016, GCAC will serve 14 high schools in six school districts with a total of 17,230 students.

“GCAC is a wonderful example of UGA giving back to the state and to schools and to underserved students in Georgia.”

The Georgia College Advising Corps (GCAC) has recently expanded to sixteen high schools in Georgia. Thanks to a generous commitment from The Robert Woodruff Foundation and other sponsors, funds will enable the GCAC to quadruple its presence in the state.

“Mr. Carty, I just want to go to college. My parents came to this country so I could go to college. It doesn’t matter where I go. I just want to go.”