One of the highlights
of the start of school at Augusta Prep is the Junior College Tour. Over the last four years, Prep juniors have
visited Auburn, Clemson, Davidson, Elon, Emory, Furman, Georgia College,
Georgia Tech, Guilford, Mercer, Sewanee, UGA, USC, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and
Wofford.
The purpose of the
college tour is for students to get exposure to a variety of colleges and
universities, compare large state universities to smaller liberal arts schools,
learn what questions they should ask in the college process, and begin to set
their sights on their educational career beyond Augusta Prep. Of course, the
students also enjoy bonding time on the bus and spending three nights in
different hotels!
This year, the Class of
2010, a.k.a. "The Perfect Ten", visited Auburn University, Mercer University,
Georgia Tech, Emory University, Georgia College and State University, and our
state's flagship university in Athens - UGA.
In between, the class enjoyed a Braves game - some getting pictured on
the outfield ‘jumbotron', the Martin Luther King Center, free time at
Stonecrest Mall, and eating at the Varsity!
Tripp Calloway, member of the Class of 2010, wrote the
following about visiting Auburn:
Living in an area overrun with
Georgia fans, the trip to Auburn held many surprises for the class of
2010. When we first arrived on the
campus we attended an information session where we were informed of the
admissions process at Auburn as well as the academic scholarships
available. After the session we
proceeded to take a tour of the campus.
Our guides showed us around the quad and pointed out major buildings at Auburn including the Haley Center,
which at ten stories is the tallest building in the area. Following the tour we were each given free
time to explore Auburn. Those of us who were familiar with the campus
directed our classmates to the jewel of Auburn University, Toomer's
Drugstore. Toomer's is one of the oldest
businesses in Auburn
and serves the best lemonade and chili cheese dogs that this writer has ever
consumed. Despite the Georgia roots, many
of my
classmates
found Auburn to be welcoming and a great place to go to school. War Eagle!
Adam Kronowski, ‘preacher extraordinaire', shared his
comments on the visit to Mercer:
After leaving the very welcoming and homely
Auburn campus, the class of 2010 departed for Mercer. We were greeted on the
Macon campus by an admission officer who gave each student a Mercer sports backpack,
water bottle, and t-shirt. We said a
quick hello to Prep grad and Presidential Scholar Caroline McLeod and then toured
around the campus. The campus was nice, clean, and welcoming. The most
outstanding part of the tour was the impressive student center/sports complex. On the whole, it was quite different visiting
a campus of 2,300 undergraduate students compared to the 16,000 that populate
the Auburn campus.
Thursday's
first stop was Georgia Tech, with a brief information session and time at the
Barnes and Noble/Georgia Tech bookstore.
It was good to see Prep grad Kaitlyn Frazier portrayed so prominently in
the information session video. Kaitlyn,
also a Presidential Scholar, was recently elected Vice-President of the
SGA. After a brief bus ride to Decatur,
the class enjoyed a terrific information session at Emory, lunch in the brand
new student center, and a quick tour of the surburban Atlanta campus. Emory, which boasts the fourth largest
endowment among all colleges and universities at $4,000,000,000 (yes, billion),
is a campus in constant growth and building.
Friday
morning came early as we departed the hotel for Georgia College. Milledgeville, Georgia was once the capital
of the state of Georgia, and the former Governor's Mansion is now part of the GCSU
campus. Like most colleges, GCSU boasts
a brand new student center and new on-campus housing. The college is unique in Georgia, being part
of the university system while still maintaining its academic focus as a
liberal arts school.
The Class of 2010 arrived in Athens somewhat skeptical
about the Varsity as a dining experience.
(What do teenagers know?) After a
few rounds of "What'll ya' have?" the students devoured the rings, chili dogs
and F.O.s. (Frosted Orange). Even the doubters enjoyed the incredible
experience that is the Varsity. Following
lunch, the class enjoyed an information session at Terrell Hall on the campus
of the University of Georgia, followed by a brief tour of the original
campus. Everyone in Athens was preparing
for the football game on the following day, and as we boarded the bus, we gave
one hearty yell... "Go Dawgs! Sic' em!" All in all, the Class of 2010 gave this
year's college tour ‘two big thumbs up'!
