Camp College: Preparing students for higher ed success [photos]

Camp College graduate Chyna Terrell sits in a computer class at Tyner Academy on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Public Education Foundation hosts students at Camp College every summer to increase college enrollment and graduation rates. Camp College graduate Chyna Terrell sits in a computer class at Tyner Academy on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Public Education Foundation hosts students at Camp College every summer to increase college enrollment and graduation rates.

By Kendi A. Rainwater April 15, 2017 6 min read

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Sewanee camp helps low-income Hamilton County students prepare for college

Camp College graduate Deonte Carter sits in a computer class at Tyner Academy on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Public Education Foundation hosts students at Camp College every summer to increase college enrollment and graduation rates.

Camp College graduate Deonte Carter is photographed in a computer class at Tyner Academy on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Public Education Foundation hosts students at Camp College every summer to increase college enrollment and graduation rates.

Camp College graduate Chyna Terrell is photographed in a computer class at Tyner Academy on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Public Education Foundation hosts students at Camp College every summer to increase college enrollment and graduation rates.

Camp College graduates Deonte Carter, right, and Chyna Terrell talk in a computer class at Tyner Academy on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Public Education Foundation hosts students at Camp College every summer to increase college enrollment and graduation rates.

To apply for Camp College:

Students interested in attending Camp College should visit www.pefchattanooga.org/register. Applications must be submitted by April 21. Contact Janice Neal for more information at Janice@pefchattanooga.org or 423-668-2423.

Over the years, Camp College has been sustained by support from:

UBS The Lillian L. Colby Charitable Foundation Sewanee: The University of the South Buck & Tonya Gentry, in memory of Madge & Sam Reynolds Source: The Public Education Foundation

For years, Deonte Carter knew he wanted to play college soccer and study sports management after he graduated from Tyner Academy.

Carter is a hard worker and was raised by his grandma to be independent, but he is the first in his family to attend college and wasn’t quite sure how to pick a school and maneuver the application process.

But last summer, right before the start of his senior year, Carter attended the Public Education Foundation’s Camp College. He said the program gave him the extra boost he needed to be accepted into Tusculum College and prepared to start classes there this fall.