Making it Happen: A Virtual College Immersion Day for PAL Acting Students

Written by Ingrid Gendler.

Here at PAL our program staff work hard to ensure our students receive the most out of their experiences in spite of challenging circumstances. In this blog post, we would like to highlight this by telling you about this year’s virtual College Immersion Day. 

PAL’s Teen Acting program participants were able to take part in a College Immersion Day organized in partnership with SUNY Purchase College. In the past, PAL’s acting students would travel to the campus to spend the day fully immersed in the collegiate experience. This spring, in light of the pandemic, PAL’s Theatre Arts Program Coordinators Bijoux Lukelo and Brian Hills worked closely with the admissions staff at SUNY Purchase to bring this opportunity to PAL’s teens virtually.

During the event approximately forty students heard from the President of the College Dr. Milly Pena, as well as other college admissions staff and faculty to learn more about the academic programs available at the college and about important steps to the participants pursuit of higher education. 

Virtual Immersion Day Image 8.png

Participants were able to interact with representatives of the college and learn more about what a college education can mean for them. PAL Acting students were joined by PAL board member and PAL Acting program steward, the legendary Tony Danza. The full-day event even included lunch for participants in the form of Uber Eats gift cards! 

We want to thank the PAL staff who put in hard work and demonstrate incredible ingenuity tin bringing such valuable programming to our youth. Through programming like this, PAL students are able to explore career options and make informed decisions about their futures, all of which shine exceptionally bright!