Ready for College

About the Program

Category: Libraries (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

Ready for College is Broward County Library’s award-winning program series that was designed to assist high school students in navigating the college application process and improve their college-preparation skills. The program is broken into sections for either the SAT and ACT test-prep or College Readiness workshops, which feature topics such as writing college essays to applying for financial aid. The workshops, which are free and open to all Broward high school juniors and seniors (public, private or home-schooled) launched in person at eight library locations in September 2019. Ready for College was popular, registration filled up early and many students were waitlisted. In 2020, it moved entirely online in response to the closing of libraries due to COVID-19. By presenting the program virtually, which helped eliminate barriers to attendance, Ready for College experienced an increase of more than 200% in attendance from FY2019 to FY2020. As libraries reopened in 2021, Ready for College transformed into a hybrid series, with students now able to choose between online and in-person classes. Ready for College received the 2022 Florida Library Association Betty Davis Miller Youth Services Award recognizing outstanding library programs of direct service to youth and was featured in the monthly online magazine SouthFloridaFamilyLife.com.