Page 56 - August 2015 Life In Naples Magazine

Front row (L to R): Amy Mendez, Marissa Chavez, Monique Williams, Manuel Ramirez, Charity Gonzales, Nenaly Patino, Guadalupe Hernandez, Ilbia Perez
Top row (L to R): Jose Flores, Jose Hernandez, Elijah Arreaga, Jesus Velasco, Alfredo Villalobos-Perez, Israel Vega, Edgar Valle, Christopher Ortiz,
College Transition Boot Camp
Gives incoming Freshmen a glimpse of campus life and support
by Steven Kissinger
C ampus life can be daunting for college freshmen who
are experiencing life away from home for the first
time.
Easing the shift from high school to college is the purpose
of The Immokalee Foundation’s crash course in the important
“dos and don’ts” of campus life, the annual College Transition
Boot Camp.
Held June 1-2 at TIF, the two day long series of workshops
addressed registration, time management, drugs and alcohol,
campus safety, financial aid, resident life and additional topics
for 25 newly minted Immokalee High School graduates.
“The whole purpose is to pack in as much information as
we can for our graduating seniors to prepare them for when
they start college in the Summer B session or in the fall,”
said Marcie Bonilla, TIF’s Take Stock in Children program
services coordinator and boot camp organizer.
The workshops were led by TIF administrators, along
with local professionals, including:
• Tiziana G. Marchante, a financial aid communications
associate for Florida SouthWestern State College
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Center (L to R, by sign): Leslie Senatus, Lynecee Romelus
Alan Cuevas, Charlene Baez, Edwin Herard, Donachy Blanc, Efrain Martinez, Daniel Martinez
• Cal Majure, Florida Gulf Coast University’s
undergraduate relations coordinator
• Cpl. Benny Bright, the Collier County Sheriff ’s
Office’s public resource officer at IHS
• Thomas Buckingham, coordinator of academic support
for FSW’s Collier County campus
• Ana DiMercurio, assistant director of Drug Free
Collier
• Karen Full, a former admissions director
Other workshops were led by five student mentors who
are participants in TIF’s College Success program, which
assists TIF graduates pursuing post-secondary degrees. Each
student mentor shared their own experiences adjusting to
college life. They also fielded questions from their younger
counterparts and in small-group sessions with their peers.
“That way, they could really dive into different issues that
pertain to young women and young men,” said Bonilla.
Bonilla said the student mentors addressed such topics as
the pressure to party, dating, joining a fraternity or sorority,
the incidence of campus theft, and what a young woman
Life in Naples | August • September • October 2015