RUMFORD – Mountain Valley High School juniors learned about options beyond high school in a recent post-secondary workshop. The students chose from a menu of four workshops and were scheduled to attend two.

The workshops included the military as a career option with Sgt. Pete Cote, the college search and the college application process with Karin Parsons of University of Maine at Farmington, paying for college: financial aid and scholarships with Pate Crate of Finance Authority of Maine and two-year college options with Michelle Hawley from Central Maine Community College. Guidance counselor Jim Ippolito organized the workshop.

William Cunningham attended the military session and said, “I learned about both the pros and cons of joining the military after my high school career. We talked about the different branches and what they all have to offer for different people. We were told about schooling benefits, many other helpful ways to make your decision on joining the military and what you want to do when you get in.”

“I definitely learned a lot of useful information from the financial aids and scholarships workshops,” said Deverae Gurney. “It explained how to get as much help as possible to ensure you can get all the possibilities that come along with the college process.”

After attending the college search and application process session, Cunningham said, “I learned about looking at things such as the size, financial aid, number of people and majors. She [Parsons] told us to look at the schools we were applying for and ask what do they have for us. I also found out that some schools will do video chat interviews if you live far away from the college. It is also good to have back up colleges and other careers in mind if one option doesn’t work out.”

“I would like to thank the people who came in and talked with us about those things,” said Makaila Conley. “They definitely changed my view on college and made searching, paying and filling out applications much easier for me and everyone else who went to the workshop.”