For Branham freshmen, college often feels years away — but a visit to San Jose State University and Santa Clara University offered students an early glimpse into what their futures could be like.

Branham’s college field trip in April was the culminating activity of the freshman English classes’ “What’s Next” unit, which encouraged students to begin thinking about their life after high school through exploring college, career and post-secondary opportunities. The unit is designed to help freshmen understand the different pathways available after graduation and to begin planning early for their future.

English teacher Stuti Arora mentions that all freshmen participate in the unit, and teachers hope to continue the field trip in the future to help students see college as a realistic option. Arora elaborates that for freshmen, being able to see a different educational perspective is beneficial. 

“We wanted students to visit San Jose State, which is a large public university, and Santa Clara, which is a smaller private university, to get a sense of what their options are after high school,” Arora said.

According to Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research on college exposure activities, early campus visits help students visualize themselves in college and can positively influence their postsecondary aspirations and planning. The research found that firsthand exposure to college environments can make higher education feel more attainable for students who may not otherwise see it as a realistic option.

Additionally, Arora mentioned how students especially enjoyed exploring different parts of the campus, which helped them visualize where they can apply. 

“A lot of kids did say that they loved seeing the colleges,” Arora said. “They loved going to the top floor of the library and looking at the view.”

Freshman Ailbhe Cleary explains how carefully planned the trip was to ensure students could visit different campuses and make the most out of the experience. Freshmen were divided into groups and sent to separate colleges on different buses, and switched locations mid day

“It was organized so [that] in the morning everyone was supposed to meet in the cafeteria,” Cleary said. “We were supposed to leave at a certain time, and then like half of us would go to one school, and the other would go to the other one.”

Freshman Dante Olivera-Lee, who also went on the field trip, described it as an interactive experience that allowed students to explore different parts of each campus.

“We went to the different campuses, [as] our teachers took us on a tour around,” Olivera-Lee said. We went to the library at San Jose State, and they just led us around and we had pieces of paper where we were answering questions.” 

Olivera-Lee explained that the activity sheets encouraged students to interact more closely with each campus through observation-based tasks.

“The papers that we were taking around had different questions on them, one of them had to do a little sketch of a building that we saw, or a piece of modern art that was on the campus,” Olivera-Lee said. “And when we went to the library at SJSU, there was a kind of scavenger hunt thing on each floor.” 

Arora said the activity sheets were designed to guide students through key parts of each campus. 

“They were supposed to go to all these different places and answer questions. That part was minorly disastrous,” Arora said. “The activities didn’t really happen. We just kind of wandered around and looked at things.”

While the activity was designed to guide students through key parts of each campus, Olivera-Lee said the structure sometimes felt limiting. He explained that more open-ended exploration could have made the experience more engaging.

“If students [had] more chances to explore, the more entertaining parts of campus, instead of just walking around and collecting stamps,” Olivera-Lee said.

Beyond exploring college campuses, the trip encouraged freshmen to start thinking seriously about their future after high school. For Cleary, it made college feel closer than expected.

“[It] mentally prepared [us], because it kind of seems far away as a freshman,” Cleary said. “But then we realize that it’s really only three years, so we should start thinking about college now.”

Courtesy of Lauren Cellini and Victoria Raineri