Super Sunday is an annual student recruitment initiative specifically targeting African-American students and their families, with information and resources to support college admissions and enrollment. On Sunday, February 12, 2012, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), and each of its 16 colleges will partner with African-American churches throughout the state to host college information fairs for prospective college students and their families. The day will promote higher education to show students how they can achieve a college education. It will also highlight the role of parental involvement and early preparation in facilitating successful access to college for African- Americans. It is part of the KCTCS Super Sunday statewide effort to encourage early planning for college and the involvement of community members as mentors for young people.
In 2011, KCTCS’ inaugural year, Super Sunday proved to be a huge success. More than 45 churches participated statewide with a total attendance of more than 4,000 people. Leading up to and during the event, KCTCS received 373 media hits statewide.
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Each event will implement the following basic agenda:
No, the event is free and open to the public.
KCTCS faculty and staff will be on-hand at each church to share information about college planning, financial aid, admissions requirements and college programs. Prospective students and their parents will also be able to connect with a college mentor who will serve as a college liaison to assist them with their long-term college planning needs.
People of all ages are invited, but students in K-12, their parents and families are the primary focus.
Churches are a vital part of the African-American community and we recognize the importance of meeting students where they work and live. Super Sunday will be held at churches throughout the state as a way to convene religious, community, civic, business and education leaders together to develop partnerships to educate youth, their parents and families about the value of a college degree to ensuring individual success.
Everyone is invited to this event. This is the first step in KCTCS’ mission to increase the educational opportunities for people of color, including African-Americans and Latinos. Super Sunday is an annual event for KCTCS and its 16 colleges.
The KCTCS Super Sunday event is modeled after a highly successful program developed at California State University (CSU). The CSU program is designed to connect with and inform African-American students and their families about what it takes to get into college. Now in its seventh year, Super Sunday, which began with 24 churches, has expanded to include more than 100 churches throughout the state and has led to the development of companion college fair events called Super Saturday.
Yes, each event is open to the public, and people of all ages are invited to attend. Research has shown students begin contemplating college as early as elementary school, so students from K-12, their parents and families are the key audience for Super Sunday.
Super Sunday is an event that seeks to promote a college-going culture. People interested in attending any college are invited.
As an open-access institution, one of KCTCS’ goals is to increase the educational attainment of diverse populations. Super Sunday is a KCTCS program to connect with and inform African-American students and their families about what it takes to get into college.
Research shows that students and families from all racial and ethnic groups have high aspirations for a college education, but the pipeline carrying students from one level of education to another is dangerously leaky, especially from the African-American and Latino quarters. A 2011 KCTCS prospective student research study reveals that historically underserved respondents have a greater desire as a percent of Kentucky’s undereducated adult population than do Caucasians to pursue a higher education. National industry trends indicate the majority of future growth in higher education will come primarily from these segments of the population. Freshman enrollment in the nation’s 6,100 post-secondary institutions surged by 144,000 students from the fall of 2007 to the fall of 2008. This six percent increase was the largest in 40 years, and almost three-quarters of it came from minority freshman enrollment growth. In fact, from 2007 to 2008, the freshman enrollment of Hispanics at post-secondary institutions grew by 15 percent and of African-Americans by eight percent. However, despite increased enrollment among multicultural students, Kentucky still lags in the national average in enrollments from this sector.
Over an eight-year period (2001-02 through 2008-09), Kentucky’s colleges awarded nearly 150,000 bachelor’s degrees. Fewer than 10,000 went to African-Americans and 1,331 Hispanic graduates. graduates. Interpreted another way – African-Americans received about 6.4% of the degrees, yet make up 7.7% of the population. Kentucky continues to experience a low level of college completion, and it is seriously worse for non-white students, even for those who make it to college.
In Kentucky, the state lags behind the national average: