The younger you are when you first hear about college, the better prepared you will be to find the right place for your education. That is why the ScholarMatch staff invited Valerie Demong, an admissions officer from Middlebury College, to talk with parents and their children who are in elementary, middle, and high school about the benefits of attending a liberal arts college.

Parents had many questions about how to support their children to choose the right classes and after school activities for college admission. They were also assured that if their children had to stay at home to help the family, or work during any time off, that these are valuable experience for young people and that colleges such as Middlebury highly value during the admissions process.

Joining Valerie in her discussion with parents and students were Middlebury alumni Aki Ito, Yalie Kamara, and Miranda Tsang. Many of the students in attendance are also enrolled in 826 Valencia’s After School Program, and were very excited to see that Miranda and Yalie, who both work at 826, are also Middlebury alums!

Students left feeling excited about applying to Middlebury’s fly-in program, where students in the first semester of their senior year in high school apply to visit Middlebury to see what it might be like to attend.

Middlebury is a very selective school, and boasts a great number of graduates who helped found 826 Valencia, are part of their board, are employees, and who are close friends of the organization. We hope we were able to instill important knowledge into our students and that they’ll be inspired to apply to Middlebury in the future.

A big thank you goes out to Aki, Miranda, and Yalie for coming to share their college experiences and advice with the f

amilies. And of course, thank you to Valerie for visiting!