“I love that students are excited about exploring their future.  My favorite part about this program is seeing different colleges they visit and the different T-shirts they wear from colleges,” said Counselor Mrs. Laurie Tristan.

Perhaps you have walked in front of Mr. Casper’s office or you have a friend that went to their counselor to get signatures on their Mactivity sheet.  Have you completed 10 Mactivities to earn your college gear and field trip?

Mactivities is a program created by the counselors Tristan and Ms. Christine Silva to better prepare students for college and careers.  Students need to complete a series of activities, such as printing out Aeries grade reports or wearing college gear for consecutive weeks, to participate.  

By completing 10 Mactivities students will reserve a spot on the annual college field trip.  Although, there are 20 Mactivities total for each grade level to complete.  To motivate, the counselors agreed to make a friendly competition between each grade level; eighth grade is in the lead with 23 student who finished at least 10 Mactivities.

This program is offered to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students.  The differences between all grade levels are that sixth grade introduces Mactivities and seventh and eighth focus more on career exploration.  

“Finishing 10 Mactivities has really motivated me to soar even higher and helped me understand that I can actually achieve my goals,” said seventh-grader Naila Vo.

According to Tristan, this program is important for students to learn what it takes to go to college so when they are in college they are prepared.  This program has been running since the year of 2014-15 and 40 students have already completed 10 Mactivities to earn their college career and field trip.

Last year, about 140 students completed 10 Mactivities and visited Cal State Fullerton and Fashion of Institute of Design and Merchandising.  Unfortunately, only 7 students completed all 20 Mactivities, and the counselors are looking to improve that number.  

This year, the school is reserving space for 200 students to attend this field trip because last year 140 students met the goal.  The field trips will visit Point Loma University and San Diego University, scheduled for April 11 and April 19, respectively, because both college tours limit visits to 100 students.  March 30 is the deadline to reserve a spot on the trip.

The Parent-Faculty Organization is contributing the food for the field trip, and the buses are paid from site funds, as approved by Principal Mr. David Casper.

“Live, love, dream is a quote that I always go back to because it really helped me when I was trying to finish 10 Mactivities,” said seventh-grader Grettee Pham.