What's Next for the Class of 2023?
Queen Creek Unified School District (QCUSD) saw 704 seniors graduate this last school year. Now that their time with QCUSD has come to an end, the question remains: what will they do next?
Seniors reported their post-graduation plans in a questionnaire that went out during the last semester of the 2022–2023 school year. Of the graduates who filled out the questionnaire, 57.3% from Queen Creek High School and 72.3% from Eastmark High School plan on attending college in the fall. Seniors heading to college shared what they plan on studying; popular fields of study include health sciences, STEM, and business.
Others plan to attend a trade school, join the military and go on missions.
Preparing for life after graduation can be a daunting task. Fortunately, all QCUSD high schools have College and Career Readiness Centers with a dedicated staff of advisors to assist students in organizing their plans for the future.
“We take them from the beginning to the end of the process” explains Director of College & Career Readiness, Heidi Lee. Advisors walk seniors through the college application process, from signing up for Common App (a website connecting applicants with colleges across the nation), collecting letters of recommendation, and applying for scholarships.
College and Career Readiness Centers also host several FAFSA Nights to walk families through the process of applying for Federal Student Aid.
“Queen Creek is really unique in how we have our College and Career Centers very involved and in touch with our kids, one-on-one, to get them through the senior year process,” says Lee. College and Career Advisors visit English classes several times throughout the year to make sure seniors are on the right track.
College and Career Readiness Advisors use questionnaire data to learn how to best help students. From the data collected during the 2022–2023 school year, advisors have identified college commitment as a priority area for next school year. This is because though many seniors have been accepted and plan to attend college, there is a percentage of students who, at the time of graduation, were still evaluating their options.
With that in mind, College and Career Readiness Advisors will use the summer to create and implement a plan focusing on this priority area and help future graduating classes step confidently into their futures.