`College Counts'
BHS offers college preparation presentation
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

The Army Reserve Officer Training Corps will drop by Brownsboro High School Tuesday, October 30 as part of a presentation on college preparation. The ROTC portion of the presentation will emphasize leadership programs and how they can benefit students, according to a flyer passed out at BHS.

Maggie Debenport, college coordinator for BHS, said the ROTC presentation will follow a program on making college financial planning count.

"It's the making college count program. It's all under one umbrella," Debenport said.

The college funding part will begin at 6:30 pm and last until 7:30, while the ROTC will go from 7:40 to 8:10. Both will present in BHS's Little Theater.

The ROTC's "The Path to Leadership" will seek to provide understanding about the different branches of military and types of leadership programs, the financial advantages they offer for college students, how to determine if the program is right for the student and how to obtain more information about it, the flyer read.

The financial planning session will encompass how to plan for college costs, public versus private colleges and universities, types of financial aid, options in developing a funding, how to send a student to college without risking financial future and even how colleges look at a divorced household.

Debenport said she has seen the financial planning segment before, and she claims it was informative. The financial planning portion started showing at BHS last year.

"This year the ROTC is using the program as its guinea pig," Debenport said. "Their program is new to the school."

Though entrance into the ROTC program is a serious commitment, Debenport said, it is something that can be backed out of if the student decides it is not a good fit.

Debenport also said while she hadn't seen the ROTC program before, the financial planning presentation, she said, was down to earth and beneficial.

"I kind of wish I had known this stuff a couple years earlier when I had a daughter who was going to graduate," Debenport said.

Debenport said the main targets of the night are high school juniors and seniors. Both presentations are free to the public.