Rochester Prep students visit RIT during event organized by K-12 University Center, campus admissions

When students from Rochester Prep High School had questions, they went right to the individuals they thought had the best advice – students at Rochester Institute of Technology. Topics were discussed such as campus living, extracurricular clubs, culture shock and the transition to college.

“It’s better to face culture shock here than when you get to the real world,” said Bronx native Zoe Zapata, a third-year student at RIT studying humanities, computing and design through the College of Liberal Arts. "But you never have to worry you’ll be without community.”

Zapata was among a group of RIT students who sat on a panel during an event to answer questions for the 39 Rochester Prep seniors. The message, they stressed, was that the university offers a variety of academic services and extracurricular organizations to help students succeed in the classroom and lessen the stress of the adjustment into a new phase of their lives, while fitting in with a community that makes them feel like they’re home.

Other students on the panel were also part of MOCHA and WOCHA – Men and Women of Color Honor and Ambition.

On Sept. 27, RIT’s K-12 University Center hosted the event with the campus admissions office to better expose high school seniors to various programs offered at the university. It started with a presentation and tour of campus, followed by lunch, and a question-and-answer session with RIT students.

Some programs highlighted included the Division of Diversity and Inclusion Summer Experience, Higher Education Opportunity Program and Rochester City Scholars.

A partnership among RIT and Rochester Prep was established nearly a decade ago, and transferred to the K-12 University Center last summer in a sustainable initiative that Executive Director Donna Burnette said is approached comprehensively and provides students with connections in high school that will last throughout their time at the university. It also provides students with college readiness experiences that can prepare them for other post-secondary opportunities.

“We consider ourselves partners in the education of Rochester Prep’s students,” Burnette said. “This means we leverage resources wherever we can to create opportunities for students to experience RIT and to get to know what the university has to offer. We want the students to know RIT and to know that while we are part of their present, we can also be part of their future.”