Nicholls receives $30,000 from Capital One

Nicholls recently received a $30,000 donation from Capital One, which it will use to host a program that targets high school seniors.

Dr. Todd Keller, associate vice president for academic affairs, explained that the donation will be of great use to Nicholls’ campus. With the $30,000, Nicholls hopes to mentor “rising seniors” that are interested in attending the university.

With the money donated, Nicholls will hold a three day program called the College Access Conference for the 200 accepted applicants on campus. The applicants will reside in the residence halls on campus, eat in the Vernon F. Galliano Dining Hall and meet with different student organizations on campus.

Students will have a general interest meeting where they will be provided information that applies to all incoming freshman. Then they will be broken into groups based upon their intended major when they enter the university system. Once broken into the groups, students will be able to see different learning techniques in labs throughout the different departments that are available to Nicholls students.  

Keller said that there is a “strong belief in the literature that students learn better through active learning.” He said he hopes that by introducing students to laboratories and hands-on learning methods available at Nicholls that student wills see all that the university has to offer them.

The three day program will be a “completely guided experience” Keller explained. He also stated that it will be guided mainly by “advising staff that work with first year [college] students.”

Keller stated that he is “extremely grateful that [Nicholls is] able to connect with community partners” like Capital One. He stated that this “can completely change the trajectory of a student’s life” due to the “many benefits of a higher education.”

The program will benefit high school seniors that are of lower economic status and first generation families attending college. The College Access
Conference targets students living in the Assumption Parish, Terrebonne Parish and Lafourche Parish areas.

Keller also expressed how, when students enter Nicholls campus for a tour, they see the “warm environment.” With the three day guided tour on campus, he said he hopes that these students will be more inclined to go to the university. He said that a campus tour will often “seal the deal for a student.”

The first College Access Conference will be held in the summer of 2018. Keller hopes that it will be a continuing program at Nicholls and that it will run smoothly and efficiently.