Applying for colleges can be difficult and time consuming, and across the state of Michigan, there are many students who could use a little help in their journey toward high school graduation and entrance into college.

Grand Valley State University was awarded the Beacon Award by the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN) for its support of the AdviseMI program and its work done in high-need high schools.

MCAN is an organization that aims to increase college readiness, participation and completion in Michigan, particularly among low-income, first-generation college students and students of color.

MCAN has several programs to carry out its goal, including Michigan College Decision Day, a day that gives all graduating high school seniors a chance to apply to college during the school day, and AdviseMI, a college adviser program.

AdviseMI takes recent college graduates who have been trained and places them in high schools that consist of significant numbers of low-income and first-generation college-going students.

Brandy Johnson, executive director of MCAN, said AdviseMI hires 40 recent college graduates for the program and three of the advisers came from GVSU.

GVSU is one of 12 universities from Michigan that partnered with MCAN on the AdviseMI program, and each of those that did were awarded the Beacon Award at MCAN’s College Access Impact Award ceremony.

“We wanted an opportunity to recognize our partners in the field,” Johnson said. “They went out on a limb and took a risk on us because it was a new program – and they invested their time and money to make the program a success.”

MCAN has been in existence for six years, but this was only the second year that they held this awards ceremony.

Gayle Davis, provost and executive vice president for academic and student affairs, said that by participating in AdviseMI, GVSU will become more visible to high schools in the area, which may help with recruiting new students to the university.

Suzeanne Benet, GVSU assistant vice president for academic affairs, added that GVSU became involved with MCAN because they believed in what the organization was trying to accomplish.

“There are a lot of high schools in Michigan where the students do not get a lot of exposure to information about attending college,” Benet said. “Increasing the number of high school students in Michigan who attend college would open doors for these students, and be good for the state as well.”

The overall goal of this program is to increase the number of high school students who enter and complete postsecondary education by 60 percent by the year 2025.

Johnson said GVSU will most likely continue its involvement with MCAN and AdviseMI since it provides valuable opportunities to GVSU graduates.

GVSU is currently in the process of recruiting two of its graduating seniors to become advisers this year.