High schoolers across NC benefit from “near-peer” support
The national average ratio for college advisers to students 467:1, which allots around 20 minutes with each high school student a year. College Advising Corps (CAC) is a national organization that aims to improve the adviser to student ratio in high schools and increase the number of low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented high school students who enter and complete higher education. Recently, the organization has expanded to include post-secondary planning including community college, workforce development, and the military.
College Advising Corps’ near-peer model allows high school students to receive advising from recent college graduates and aims to serve students who attend Title 1 and low-resourced schools. CAC serves students across the country including in North Carolina, which is home to five chapters across 94 of the state’s 100 counties. Duke’s CAC chapter was founded in 2014 with five advisers and has expanded to 22 advisers in nine central North Carolina counties to deepen the impact within those areas.
New cohort will be “the support they wish they had”
Duke’s CAC enters its second decade of service with a cohort of seven first-year advisers for the 2024-25 school year. In July, advisers attended training to learn about resources for students and attended campus visits at numerous NC universities. Advisers engaged in meaningful discussions about the importance of their service and how to be impactful at their respective schools. Program Director Victoria Chavis says, “Something that I want them to think about when engaging with their students is being the support they wish they had when they were in their shoes.”
Photo credit: Amy Stern
First-year adviser Eden Briley speaks about her love for advising her peers and students and hopes to bring that passion while serving in Lee County this year. “When I was in college, I did a lot of peer advising, and I loved it on all fronts. I also love working with younger students,” says Briley. When asked about her personal college advising experience and how she views the importance of an adviser, she says, “I was homeschooled, so going into college and having to figure all that out on my own, that was very difficult. I definitely see the need for it.” Briley is looking forward to connecting with her students and has appreciated the training about how to best serve them.
Patrice Hinkson, who is also a new adviser this year, brings a different but important perspective to the need for college advisers. She says, “It takes a lot of stress off of the administration and counselors that are already at that school.” Often school counselors handle many responsibilities and may not be able to devote adequate time toward college advising and post-secondary planning. The presence of a college adviser allows for assured commitment to the post-secondary process.
“You are changing the lives of these young high school students and their families, and young college graduates and their futures. We are also changing systemic issues that keep people from thriving in the way that they could if they had resources.”
Victoria Chavis, Program Director, Duke’s College Advising Corps
Advisers are on their own career journeys
Advisers also experience personal and career development while participating in the program to help advance them in their career journeys. “When I am with the advisers, I want to instill in them that they have support in me; my priority is mentoring the advisers to their next endeavor, whatever that is,” says Chavis. Hinkson talks about using this experience to not only serve students, but also to contribute to her career goals. “My end goal is to get my masters in school counseling, so this is like a steppingstone for me. I am very passionate about being an advocate for mental health, especially with adolescents.”
Photo credit: Amy Stern
Chavis reflects on her journey with CAC, who herself was an adviser in 2014 after earning her bachelor’s degree from UNC Chapel Hill. She had the opportunity to serve at Purnell Swett High School in Robeson County, where she also attended high school. When thinking back to her experience as an adviser, Chavis says, “It was nice to give back to my community in that way, and it’s nice to have served where I’m from so on random weeks that I go visit, there is a strong chance I get see some of my former students.”
Returning to CAC as a program director was not always in the plan for Chavis but becoming an adviser left a great impact on her life. “I decided to come back because being an adviser made such a big difference in my life and trajectory of where I went after being a first-generation college grad, and of course, I wanted to come back even if it’s at the darker shade of blue,” says Chavis.
The Duke College Advising Corps will share more about the difference it makes in a new impact report slated to be published this fall.
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