Lyford students hit the big apple, visit Ivy League schools

LYFORD — Local students strolled through the Big Apple walking past the towering skyscrapers and crowds of people to get a taste of life outside the Valley.

They were there to visit the nearby Ivy League schools.

The students visited Columbia University first in New York City and on the following days they traveled to New Jersey to visit Princeton University and Connecticut to visit Yale University.

Each of the schools is a two-hour drive apart from each other.

The Lyford school district sponsored 10 students who attended the university tour.

“It’s a great opportunity for our kids to get out and see what life is like in other places and what these universities offer,” said Kristin Brown, Lyford school district curriculum and instruction director.

Kristin Tribett, 15, an incoming sophomore at Lyford High School, participated in the tour.

Tribett said she wants to major in sports medicine to be a physical therapist or team physician.

“I was interested in going to Columbia but now that I have visited Yale, it seems like a really good option and really good fit for me,” Tribett said. “We got to experience everything from student life to what financial aid is like and the application process.”

The college trip was coordinated by the Texas Graduate Center, a component of the Texas Valley Communities Foundation nonprofit that promotes higher education, based out of Mercedes.

A total of 32 students from Lyford, Mercedes and PSJA participated in the university tour.

The students completed an online application, wrote an essay and went through an interview committee to be considered for tour.

“We believe that providing students an opportunity to visit other universities will give them greater options,” said Dr. Mary Alice Reyes, Texas Graduate Center executive director. “We fully support our local universities but students should have a look at all the different options to really decide what would be the best college for them.”

The student group traveled from Valley International Airport in Harlingen to New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Monday, July 18, and returned on Friday, July 22.

“The idea behind the trip was to expose our students to the Ivy League schools they may qualify to get into and to have a better understanding of what it takes to get into an Ivy League school,” Brown said. “Our school board and superintendent are very supportive of the idea of getting our students as much information as possible and exposing them to opportunities they wouldn’t normally have living so far away from these Ivy League schools.”