West Haven High School received a Governor’s Award and a Commissioner’s Award today, by the State of Connecticut, for its excellence in improving its Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion rates through the state’s inaugural FAFSA Challenge. The high school also served as hosts for the media event Sept. 24, which included Gov. Ned Lamont, Commissioner of Education for the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) Charlene Russell-Tucker, and Deputy Commissioner of Academics and Innovation for the CSDE Desi Nesmith.
The Governor’s Award is presented to the school that showed the largest percentage point growth in FAFSA completion amongst similarly sized schools, relative to the previous year, while the Commissioner’s Award is presented to the school that showed the highest FAFSA completion rate, also amongst similarly sized schools.
“Our students at West Haven High School are destined for success, but we know things like FAFSA completion can be a barrier to achieving that success,” said WHHS Principal Dana Parades. “My team and I understand that it is our job as educators to remove those barriers and we were thrilled to participate in a challenge that aimed at doing just that.”
Despite an exceptionally challenging and unprecedented 2020-21 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, West Haven experienced a 10.8-percentage point increase in FAFSA completion rates over the previous year, which greatly surpassed the 5-percentage point goal that Gov. Ned Lamont challenged all Connecticut schools to achieve last school year. Additionally, an incredible 59.8-percent of students in the high school’s Class of 2021 completed the FAFSA.
FAFSA completion is strongly associated with postsecondary enrollment and outcomes, given that 90-percent of high school seniors who complete the FAFSA attend college directly from high school, compared to just 55-percent of FAFSA non-completers.
“This award is a testament to the work that occurred at West Haven High School during the pandemic,” said Superintendent Neil Cavallaro. “Our administrative team, counselors, and teachers encouraged students to complete the FAFSA forms and make them believe that going to college was a realistic option for them. Our experience in the past had been that many students, thinking they couldn’t afford the tuition, ultimately gave up on pursuing their goals and dreams.”
West Haven High School hosted the media event with representatives from the other winners, Synergy Alternative Program (East Hartford), Orville H. Platt High School (Meriden), and P-TECH Norwalk (Norwalk). Nesmith facilitated the panel discussion which included remarks from Commissioner Russell-Tucker and Gov. Lamont, as well as questions for counselors, school and district leaders, college partners, and students. Representing WHHS on the panel were Principal Dana Paredes, school counselors Debbie Kachmar and Holly Benedetti, and seniors Justin Rodriguez, Danielle Ricketts, and Anaelecea Turcio.
Rodriguez serves as captain of the boys cross-country and track & field teams, is president of the Robotics Club, and was selected to serve as a Peer Advocate. He plans to major in biology and attend Medical School.
Turcio is captain of both the girls volleyball and tennis teams and is a member of the Newspaper Club, Peer Advocates, and the National Honor Society. She plans to attend college to possibly study political science.
Ricketts was born and raised in Jamaica and immigrated to the US less than three years ago. She is a student representative for the Board of Education, a selected Peer Advocate, Editor-in-Chief for the Rostrum (WHHS school’s online newspaper), President of the Teens for Christ Club, President of the International Club, and is part of the Yale Pathways to Arts and Humanities and the Yale Pathways to Science. She plans to attend a four-year university next fall and intends to major in biomedical science/public health.