Here’s where Henrico Schools’ Class of 2024 will be heading to college

High school graduates from Henrico County Public Schools will be setting off to about 230 different colleges this upcoming fall – some in Virginia and some all the way across the country.

About 56% of Henrico’s Class of 2024 will be going to a four-year college, while 16% will be attending a two-year school, according to a survey HCPS conducted this past spring.

Most graduating seniors who responded – about two-thirds – decided to stay in-state this year, with the most popular schools being Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech, and James Madison University. All together, Henrico grads will be attending 40 Virginia colleges.

The other one-third of respondents decided to venture out-of-state, many to schools still fairly close by in North Carolina and South Carolina, but some are headed all the way to California, Colorado or even Hawaii. A handful will be attending universities abroad, like the University of Toronto in Canada or Institut Lyfe in France. (See map above for all locations.)

Many of the students not heading to college this fall will instead be joining the world of work; of the 3,833 graduating seniors, 12% said they would be working a job after graduation. About 5% will be headed to trade school or an apprenticeship, and 2% will be enlisting in the military.

For the students who did decide to pursue college, deciding which school to attend could be a lengthy and stressful process – but ultimately worth it when they found their fit. Students had to weigh a bunch of different factors – location, price, academics, school culture, size – when looking at colleges, and even some new factors that have popped up in the past few years, like whether a school is test-optional or how a school regulates artificial intelligence in classrooms.

The Citizen spoke with several graduating seniors from HCPS, and one of their biggest takeaways: school culture matters. Whether they are staying in-state or venturing across the country, attending a school at which they feel like they belong can help create close bonds with professors and students. Becoming involved in their communities also was an important consideration, they said.

Christian Washington – Loyola Marymount University

When Christian Washington enlisted at Douglas S. Freeman High School instead of his home school (Hermitage High) before his freshman year, he only knew one other person who would be going to the school.

Now a Freeman graduate, Washington is making a similar “big jump” into the unknown and the uncomfortable – he will be heading across the country to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California this fall with only one other Henrico graduate.

“I knew I wanted to be thrown in an environment where I didn’t know anybody,” Washington said. “That’s kind of what I did at Freeman, it pushed me out of my comfort zone. And when I get myself uncomfortable, then I feel like I produce my best work.”

Washington knew from the beginning that he wanted to venture somewhere different, so he looked at colleges from all around the country, like the University of Washington in Seattle and the University of Miami in Florida. But when he visited Los Angeles to tour Loyola Marymount, he immediately knew he had found the right place.

“When the plane touched down in L.A., I was like, ‘Oh wow, it feels different here,’” Washington said. “Everybody’s like, ‘when you know, you’ll know.’ And at first I was like, that’s just insane, I’m not going to know. But when I got there, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is perfect, it feels like home.’”

At Loyola, Washington wants to double major in both business administration and public policy. In high school, Washington started his own business, Cookies & Crust, and joined Freeman’s specialty center, the Center for Leadership, Government and Global Economics.

He said that finding people who were just as passionate and excited about their future paths was a key factor in choosing Loyola Marymount.

“The school culture was just really positive,” he said. “Everybody was really excited to have me when I went to my advising sessions. Everybody’s just really optimistic about the future and about what they’re doing.”

Washington said another important factor was that he could continue doing community advocacy and service work at Loyola, which has an initiative that helps provide fresh food to L.A.’s homeless population on Skid Row. At Freeman, Washington was an Equity Ambassador for HCPS, helping the school division with projects focused on inclusivity, and also worked with organizations like the NAACP.

As a Class of 2024 graduate, he also had the unique experience of starting high school during the midst of the COVID pandemic. COVID may have died down by his senior year, Washington said, but the isolation of the “COVID year” seemed to prompt many seniors to place a lot of emphasis on the overall social experience they would be getting at college.

“A lot of people are going on colleges based on the vibe,” Washington said. “We were cooped up in the house ninth grade year and couldn’t have a full experience. We want to make sure our college experience is really fun, really engaging. A lot of people are really excited to go to football games and tailgates and have a good school culture.”

Tylani Robinson – Old Dominion University

Varina High School graduate Tylani Robinson had a different approach to choosing a school – she knew she wanted to stay fairly close by and maintain an atmosphere of familiarity at her college.

After touring Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, Robinson committed to attend the school to pursue pediatric nursing, joining almost 100 other Henrico students who also committed to the school this year.

“It’s really popular, a lot of my friends from high school are going to ODU, so it’s nice to go with some people I know so I’m not by myself,” Robinson said. “And it’s not too far from home, and I don’t want to be too far. So it’s a good distance for me to come back home and then go back to school.”

Robinson looked at several other nearby colleges too, such as George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia and Howard University in Washington, D.C. At first, she was intent on going to an HBCU (historically Black college or university), with her favorite being North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro.

But after visiting ODU, Robinson realized how much the student atmosphere and location of the school fit what she was looking for.

“I did a lot of research into all of the schools and I feel like I just liked ODU a lot more than the other schools, like the atmosphere and the distance from home and all of my friends were going,” she said. “It was a cool environment and student atmosphere, that’s what I got from it. People were helping other people out and the students were nice there.”

The beginning of her college process – sorting out which colleges she liked, filling out all of the college applications – was stressful, Robinson said. The process got a lot easier when she sought out help from her teachers and her family.

“At first, I felt like there was nobody to help and I had to do this by myself,” Robinson said. “And then that’s when my teachers and my mom and all of the adults started to come in and help me, and then it became not as stressful anymore.”

One piece of advice Robinson has for rising seniors: don’t get too deep in your own head during the college process. A lot of nerves will subside once you actually start visiting the schools you are considering, she said.

“Don’t overthink it, because it will just make you anxious and just makes everything harder than it’s supposed to be,” she said. “I was kind of overthinking it a little bit and I just had to slow down and just stick more to a school. I think I was overthinking the college life and stuff, the school’s atmosphere, and I hadn’t even visited.”

Nicholas Gavin – University of Miami

At Freeman High’s Center for Leadership, Nicholas Gavin felt that he had thrived both academically and personally from the smaller, seminar-style classes and the strong connections he built with his classmates and teachers.

“When you have that close bond that happened from seminar-style classes, you can really have discussions that you wouldn’t typically have in regular classes, because we were able to have those tough conversations and work with each other,” Gavin said. “It really bolsters the success of an individual just because you get to understand other people’s perspectives.”

Now setting off as an incoming student at the University of Miami in Florida, Gavin believes that he will form that same bond and have those similar tough conversations. As a part of the Foote Fellows Honors Program at UMiami, Gavin will be able to have those seminar-style classes and a close cohort of students he can get to know.

When choosing colleges, Gavin knew it was pretty much a “done deal” when he received the George W. Jenkins Scholarship from UMiami, which covers full tuition. But he said that one of the biggest factors in his choice was also how much he could stray from his own “bubble” and comfort zone.

“I wanted to have experiences that were outside just my state and meet more people that weren’t necessarily within my Virginia bubble or my Henrico bubble,” he said. “I also hope to experience a new culture. Like in Miami, 75% of the population speaks Spanish or is bilingual.”

Gavin, who was also looking at schools like the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, said he knew that he would regret it if he didn’t take the big leap to somewhere completely new and unknown to him when given the chance.

“If I were to compare my decisions to a literary thing, it would be the poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken,’” Gavin said. “There’s nothing wrong with going down the beaten path or the worn path, but I also wanted to make myself a little uncomfortable in college and have some new experiences.”

Gavin is applying that same mindset when it comes to his academic route. While he originally planned to work toward a double major in marine environmental law and public policy, he might switch to pursue leadership or business administration instead.

But one thing he was sure about was the kind of school atmosphere and culture he was looking for – a college where he could form close relationships with professors and the student body.

“Culture was probably the most important thing to me. I wanted a place that I knew cared about me and where I knew my peers would care about me,” he said. “So when I would tour, I would ask students and the tour guides, what is their relationship with their professors like? Do they feel they can get help from their peers?”

One of the most important things he learned from starting high school during COVID, Gavin said, was just how much his involvement in his school community mattered to him. After a freshman year of Zoom classes from home, he was intent on forging close community bonds at Freeman, and wants to do the same at college.

“Sophomore year, when I started to get involved in more activities and I started to become more passionate about my community, I started to realize that that’s what was important to me,” Gavin said. “COVID made me realize that the close bonds that you create and the trust that’s shared in the community, that’s what’s important. And I wanted to look for something that created that community for me in college.”

Carley Bastek – Christopher Newport University

Glen Allen High School graduate Carley Bastek was mostly set to go to her first pick for college, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. But after visiting another Virginia school, Christopher Newport University in Newport News, and connecting with a group of incoming freshmen, Bastek realized that she was going to say no to her original first choice.

“I just felt like I already built up something that I could do when I got there,” Bastek said. “CNU people, they just reached out to me and I had already picked a potential roommate before I even decided to go there. I think I knew that I would have more fun there because I would already know people and I just felt like I would be less stressed going into college.”

Bastek knew she wanted to stay in Virginia for college to make the freshman year transition easier and so she could stay connected with her high school friends, many of whom are also going to Virginia schools. But at first, she was a little worried that several people from Glen Allen High would also be going to CNU.

“There are quite a few people going to CNU from my high school – I think it was maybe eight, which isn’t a ton, but I knew it was a small school so I was worried I was going to see everyone everywhere,” Bastek said. “But then I found out that there’s actually a lot more people than I thought going to CNU.”

While visiting the school, Bastek said she met people from all across the east coast, reassuring her that she would still be able to meet many new people and have a new school experience at CNU.

“It was mainly people from all over,” she said. “My roommate, she’s from North Carolina, and there were a ton of people from Maryland. I was kind of just meeting new people that I knew would be there that I’d never met before.”

The biggest factor in her college search was school size, Bastek said. She knew she wanted a small college, where she could get to know her professors more personally and see all of her friends walking around campus.

“School size was most important, just because I’ve heard that the professors get to know you more if you’re in a smaller classroom.” she said. “And then you can also feel like you know more people on campus. You can see a lot of your friends around just walking on campus, whereas if you’re at Virginia Tech, you’d probably have to go a while to get to someone’s dorm.”

Bastek also got accepted to several programs at CNU; the honors college, the President’s Leadership Program, and the Pre-Med Scholar Program because of her plans to major in neuroscience and later go to medical school.

Most of the people Bastek knows at Glen Allen High also will be attending Virginia schools. Many Henrico grads want to stay in contact with their high school friends, Bastek said, so that they can have an entire network of college and high school friends throughout the state.

“There are tons of people going to JMU and Virginia Tech and all those traditional Virginia schools,” Bastek said. “And I think they want to do that because a lot of people talk about going to visit their friends at their schools, that way they still get to have friends from high school too.”

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.