Approximately 80 Lewiston High School ninth-graders visit Bates College Thursday, Nov. 13, for "Aspirations Day," a daylong event (from 8:15 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.) organized by the college's Center for Service-Learning and its education department. The program offers high school freshmen a chance to see themselves on a college campus, learn about college admissions and participate in a college-like classroom setting. Bates presenters will dispel myths about who goes to college and why, and will work with the LHS students to develop aspirations to higher education.

"I really want these kids to see themselves on a college campus and know that college is a very real possibility for their futures," says Elizabeth Bradley '80, LHS assistant principal for the ninth grade.

The freshmen will be divided into three groups and rotate through a series of activities that includes lunch and a tour of the college. The day kicks off as Bates juniors Eve Wilder of Needham, Mass., and Carrie Garber of Wrightsville, Pa., distribute a questionnaire to the LHS students at their own school and discuss the day's agenda. Wilder and Garber are participating in the program as part of a service-learning project for "Race, Cultural Pluralism and Equality in American Education," a Bates course taught by Assistant Professor of Education Stacy Smith.

While at Bates, LHS students will attend sessions by three Bates professors, including Professor of History Steve Hochstadt, Assistant Professor of History Joe Hall and Associate Professor of Biology Lee Abrahamsen. The ninth-graders also will hear from Dia Harris, dean of admissions and multicultural recruitment at Bates, and learn from Mainers attending Bates how they decided to attend college.

"This is a wonderful event because it reflects the sort of partnership between Bates and local schools that benefits all of our students," Smith says. "Bates students studying in the field of education are learning about issues of equity and access to higher education and LHS students are learning about the meaning of a college education and about applying to college. Finally, students from both institutions are learning more about the community that they live in and its diverse constituencies."