MCS holds Parent Ed Night for college-bound students

Northern Marianas College Financial Aid officer Daisy Manglona-Propst, far right, facilitates Mount Carmel School’s first Parent Ed Night, which focused on funding a college education. (Contributed Photo)

Mount Carmel School recently held its first Parent Ed Night to help parents of college-bound students prepare for college. This Parent Ed Night featured Northern Marianas College Financial Aid officer Daisy Manglona-Propst, who provided information about funding a college education. Manglona-Propst covered a wide range of resources for parents and students, including federal grants, loans, and scholarships that are available for eligible students.

The Parent Ed Night complements the school’s college-prep curriculum, which also includes a Knights Seminar. A few years ago, the school launched the seminar to help students in the college admissions process, as well as help them learn more about financial literacy, study skills, and work-readiness skills.

School vice principal and Knights Seminar teacher Helene Manning coordinated the event and was very happy with the turnout. According to Manning, “The event went very well, and we even had a parent of a sophomore attend the session.” She added, “Parents were pleased to hear that they could apply for financial aid as early as October and to hear about other scholarships that would be available throughout the year.”

Parents echoed Manning sentiments in surveys completed at the end of the session. One parent wrote, “Let’s have more Parent Ed Nights!” Another parent urged the school to hold Parent Ed nights throughout the year to cover other topics related to college admissions and enrollment.

School president Galvin Deleon Guerrero said that the school will definitely hold more Parent Ed nights. As he put it, “This is just the first of a series of sessions to help our parents and our students prepare for college.” He added, “Mount Carmel School has a very successful track record of our AlumKnights attending some of the world’s best post-secondary institutions, and we want to ensure that all our students not only get into the college of their choice, but are also able to finance that education and fare well academically in college.”

Over the years, graduates of the school have been admitted into New York University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan, the Coast Guard Academy, and the United States Military Academy at West Point. (PR)