Righetti High School seniors receive college and career information during drive through event

ORCUTT, Calif. -- Righetti High School seniors are receiving key information today from school counselors during an on-campus drive through event.

Righetti's "Reach Higher Academy" is kicked off Monday with two sessions for more than 400 seniors.

During the brief spin through the school's west end parking lot, students received important college and career readiness information during the drive though event.

"This information is geared to help them with their senior year and applying to universities and colleges, as well as getting tools for how to apply for financial aid and other scholarships," said school counselor Eric Blanco.

The students also had an opportunity to connect with key community partners, such as UCSB, Allan Hancock College and the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara County.

"It was super fun," said senior Claire Alford. "I'm really stoked to see all my counselors and everyone is just really excited. We're excited to be seniors. Applying to college. All these great things ahead of us. We all need help getting to college and so this is just amazing they're willing to be here for us and give us all that we need."

Monday's kickoff was just the first the first event for the Reach Higher Academy.

Over the next month, seniors will also receive important information virtually with videos released weekly.

"We'll have four weeks of where we're going to release videos to the student's Canvas accounts for their Class of 2021," said Blanco. "They'll be able to review those videos and then we'll have question and answer sessions later in the week via Zoom. It will go four weeks, and then the final session will be a celebration."

The Academy is part of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher Initiative.

The Reach Higher Initiative is an effort to motivate every student in the nation to complete their education beyond high school, whether at a professional training program, community college or four-year college or university.