Photo by Mike Frederiksen
With spring just around the corner, graduation time is drawing near. This is a huge step, and for many, it can be overwhelming.
In the hopes of helping students with this transition, Moraine Valley held the “R U Ready to Graduate” event for the first time on January 31.
“It combines different goals,” says Tina Carney-Simon, the transfer coordinator. “We wanted to help students see where they stand, meet with advisors, petition to graduate, and to apply and transfer to a four year college all at once.”
Representatives from sixteen different Illinois universities came out to the U-building to not only inform about their institutions, but also check to see if students had all the required classes needed to transfer.
“Students don’t always know to petition for graduation,” says Tina. “Another part to this event was to also help students remember they need to petition to graduate now. Not only do we have deadlines to meet, but the transfer colleges do as well.”
Petitioning for graduation is more than just telling the school you’re ready to graduate. Once submitted, it allows for the college to make sure you have all the classes needed for your degrees, and to make sure you’ve completed all of the prerequisites for a prospective transfer college.
Failing to petition for graduation can set students back to varying degrees. If someone fails to petition for graduation by Moraine Valley’s deadline, they will not be able petition again until the next semester, which also means they’d have to wait longer to transfer. “Petition and apply for college’s as soon as you can, you never know what you could get or miss as far as scholarships and grants go,” said Tina.
Should the potential students meet all of the school’s GPA and class requirements, they could be accepted to the university of their choice on the spot, with the cost of their application fee waived. Not one to be outdone however, Loyola was also offering potential students up to $10k in scholarship funds provided they are accepted and have an excellent GPA.
It wasn’t all school however. Throughout the event, a raffle was being done. Winners of the raffle received gift cards to local restaurants that support Moraine Valley.
Considering the amount of students at the event, it would be hard to say the event was anything less than a success. It’s safe to assume that this won’t be the last time Moraine has an event like this to help students know what the next step forward is.
