The jump from high school to college is a massive one—but not one that should separate these sections of the education system entirely. Both of these institutions, the school and the college, interact more often than many know and have a lot to learn from each other.
The Haverford School in particular has the opportunity to bring college and high school together in many ways due to the location of nearby colleges. This includes Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, and Swarthmore, to name a few. This combination of schools is also known as the Tri-college Consortium or TriCo. These colleges share an exchange program. Just as we have our Inter-Ac league, which get schools together for events, colleges in the area and around the world operate in a similar manner.
Casper Hoffman is a sophomore at Haverford College. Like many other students, Casper passes by The Haverford School “whenever I am going to Bryn Mawr College or to the Haverford Septa Station. Since I pass by Bryn Mawr College almost every day, I pass by The Haverford School quite frequently,” Hoffman said.
Even though this connection may seem insignificant, the fact that college and high school students alike visit the same places and pass by each other daily connects us, a fact not apparent to many. He has firsthand experience with the TriCo collaboration.
“There is a lot of collaboration between the colleges in the area, particularly between Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, and Swarthmore. We can take classes at any of the three colleges and eat at any of the dining halls.”
Casper hoffman
“There is a lot of collaboration between the colleges in the area, particularly between Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, and Swarthmore,” Hoffman said. “We can take classes at any of the three colleges and eat at any of the dining halls.”
Hoffman expands on the connection between these schools:
“The social scene is also very interconnected between the colleges (especially between Haverford and Bryn Mawr, since we are so close to each other). There are also inter-college clubs. For example, I am in Looney Tunes A Cappella, a Bryn Mawr-Haverford BiCo A Cappella group. Collaboration between colleges is easy because there are buses that regularly run between the campuses that are free for students of the TriCo.”
The fact that these schools run buses between each other further demonstrates how connected they are and how interconnected the Haverford community really is. College students also have a lot to teach high schoolers through their past experiences and the lessons they learned in their time at high school.
Hoffman says that his “biggest message for high school students is that you don’t have to know what you want to major in before going to college. At all three TriCo colleges, you don’t have to declare a major until the spring of your Sophomore year, so it’s great to go into college with an open mind and explore new interests.”
High school students can even teach college students about things such as responsibility, spark new interests, and allow them to reminisce on their high school days. Responsibility may seem like something people learn with age, and while this is often true, college students can sometimes use the help due to their high stress levels and workload at that stage of life.
We can utilize what we learned in [Health and PE course] to connect to college students on the topic of mental health due to the high stress we all share in attending high-level schools and to possible give them outlets to share our experiences.
Coming from a high schooler, it may seem patronizing, but not all college students had the opportunity to take the Health and PE course we took. We can utilize what we learned in this course to connect to college students on the topic of mental health due to the high stress we all share in attending high-level schools and to possibly give them outlets to share our experiences.
The Quaker Consortium or TriCo is an amazing set of colleges with students who have more in common with us high schoolers than we think.
