By Mark Schmerling

 

Peter Vogel’s mission is to help pave the way for high school seniors to reach college, graduate from those learning institutions, and lead productive, fulfilling lives.

 

Vogel, just 22, and a 2015 graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, is a college advisor with Carolina College Advising Corps. His position is funded through AmeriCorps, private donors and the Community Foundation of Polk County. He works with high school students at Polk County High School and Polk County Early College from his office located in the Guidance Office at PCHS.

 

“There are 45 of us at 64 schools,” Vogel said of the college advisors from CCAC spread out across the state at a variety of high schools. Polk is the westernmost of those high schools, but, according to Vogel, it’s one of the foremost in student performance.

 

“This school has a terrific culture of sending a majority of its students to college,” Vogel noted. “This is an excellent academic school,” he added, comparing student performance to schools in Cary, Chapel Hill and Raleigh, in more affluent, urban areas.

 

Vogel, a New Jersey native but whose grandmother is from Columbus, spends much of his energy and time helping students whose parents did not attend college. He emphasizes that students who have parent who attended college have an easier time navigating the application and admission process.

 

“If you’re the first person in your family, it can be very daunting,” he said of not just the application process but of the ability to persevere to a degree.

 

He noted that while his parents’ support was important, more important was their college experience and enough resources to help his own education.

 

He enjoys working with students he describes as “underserved.”

 

Vogel said that only one in 12 low-income students in the U.S. graduates from college, and that the single best factor for predicting who will graduate college is the parents’ income.

 

“In a system that fancies itself as a meritocracy, how can we tolerate that?” he asks.

 

“College is fun,” Vogel emphasized, saying that students meet new people, encounter new ideas and learn new skills. “College might not be for everyone, but for the vast majority of students, it’s a good idea,” he said.

 

It’s Vogel’s goal to help build “a college-going culture” at the schools where he and other CCAC advisors across the state work with students.

 

Placing students in college is not about following a cookie-cutter model, he said, as students can choose from many options ranging from community colleges, two-year colleges, small and large universities, and transfer opportunities.

 

“They have to find out what’s best for them,” he said. And that’s where Vogel and other CCAC college advisors make a difference.

 

“You need to go to college,” Vogel stated, “but at the right college for them. The majority of students will be glad they went to college. College teaches grit and perseverance. People try to divorce college from the real world,” Vogel remarked, but, he insists, “College is preparation for the real world.”

 

Vogel speaks with students to learn their interests and skills and says that he wants all students to feel he’s invested in them.

 

Vogel, who noted that his parents supported his academic efforts, still had to deal with dyslexia while growing up, and required special instruction in school and college.

 

Does that experience make him more sensitive to the needs of other students?

 

“I hope so,” he answered. He also said that students shouldn’t feel ashamed to have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) as it puts them on an equal playing field with their peers.

 

Vogel encourages high school students to apply to at least five colleges—two that might be a “reach” for them, two that are “target” (or within their perceived abilities), and one “safety” choice as more of a fall-back option.

 

October will be a busy month for Polk students, especially seniors, Vogel said. Today (Saturday, Oct. 3) many will take the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test). On Oct. 15 the first wave of early college applications is due.

 

As a consequence, he says students “will need to keep up their grades, write admissions and scholarship essays, and start to finalize the list of schools they are applying to.”

 

In addition, Vogel said that a number of college representatives will visit Polk County High School this fall. He’s also organizing trips to nearby colleges to familiarize PCHS students with college campuses and aspects of admission.

 

Vogel’s efforts are not solely focused on seniors and he spends time with other grades, explaining career options, what it means to major in a subject, why GPAs are important, and the difference between an associate’s and a bachelor’s degree. He’s also been making introductory phone calls home to parents to introduce himself and discuss his goals for their children and answer their questions about the college process.

 

Vogel observes that students have the ability to make the most of themselves educationally and academically, and although he can provide guidance, students have to take the initiative on their own.

 

“Everyone can find a wonderful education in North Carolina,” he said. Vogel agrees with the observation by the great pitcher Satchel Paige: “Never let the odds keep you from pursuing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.”

 

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