Contributed Photos
At the Fort Valley State statue Centennial Monument and Wildcat Statue.
On Day Two of a February break tour of Southern colleges and universities, high-schoolers who work at LEAP checked out Albany State University and Fort Valley State University. Two of the students offered the following write-ups:
Lauren Darden, 17, Cooperative Arts High School, Junior
On tour at Albany State University.
Fort Valley State University seems like a very traditional school. Though it was in a beautiful rural location, being the Northern girl I am, it wasn’t that appealing to me. I didn’t like how far away the campus was from the city.
However, I did enjoy their athletics department. It seemed that if you are an athlete, you’ll have more opportunities after graduation, based on the staff we met. Unfortunately, they did not offer enough academic opportunities for me to love this school. Also, the campus was large with only a small amount of people. For some reason, I did not like that.
Albany State University didn’t seem like a challenging school. The requirements were as simple as a 2.2 GPA and an 880 (480 on reading/writing and 400 on math) on the SAT. Though this may appeal to most students, personally, I feel as though I could challenge myself more. Also, at Albany State, I didn’t enjoy the dorm rooms.
Darius Martin, 17, Highville Charter School, Junior
Albany State.
The first stop on day two of our trip was Fort Valley State University. My group was led around a very large campus and the tour guide explained little about the majors or the founding of the campus. The majority of the tour was focused on the school’s athletic achievements and accolades. However, we did get a chance to visit the dorms, something we weren’t able to do at the colleges we visited earlier in the trip. The rooms looked like a tiny apartment that had pretty much everything including a television, a kitchen, and separate bathrooms. In all, I liked the look of the school, but it didn’t fit my personality nor did it make we feel warm and fuzzy.
Once this tour concluded, we were off to Albany State University. We arrived on the campus and were met by two tour guides. They told us their names and began the tour. The first stop was by the overpass on campus which was very significant. One side of the bridge honored the old campus and the other side highlighted the new campus. The old campus was flooded over 15 years ago, and they said it was important to move forward, but never forget Albany State’s foundation.
From there we walked across campus, and because I love food, I was very impressed with their dining hall at which students were able to bond, interact, and take a break from studying. We then headed to the dorms where we got a glimpse of the coed dorms, and the guides explained that boys and girls weren’t allowed in each other’s dorm rooms. I really like Albany State University, and will apply in the future.
