SEAD - East Boston High School

Salem State University Recap!

Ronaldo and I were the only ones able to brave the weather on Tuesday to make it to Salem State University, but we had a great time! Our travels getting there were far from smooth due to train breakdowns, bus troubles, and snow. It was all worth it, though, once we got to campus. This is the first Massachusetts public university I have seen. It is set in a suburban area of Salem, but is not too secluded. It seems like a good place to focus on school and have the classic 4-year campus experience. Many students do end up living there for all four years. We had the chance to check out a freshman dorm room and it was pretty spacious and definitely had the college feel. Salem State also has more apartment/suite style living options for juniors and seniors. The building on campus are very new and modern. They are in the process of completing construction on a brand new freshman dorm! Their library was built a couple of years ago and has great lighting and open spaces, it seems like a lovely place to study while it's snowing outside. There are also free shuttle busses available to students to take them to the different parts of campus or into downtown Salem. I thought this was an awesome option for students, especially in the winter! Before we started our tour, we attended a short information session on Salem State, where we learned about their admissions process and a few specific programs. One is the honors program: for students who did very well in high school and got good SAT scores, they are eligible to apply for the honors program which supports students by having a living learning community for them, extra scholarships, and extra academic support. The other program we learned about is one called Summer Bridge. In this program, students are accepted to Salem State on a conditional basis. They must attend a 5 week Summer Bridge program (completely paid for by the school) that will help them develop the skills necessary for a smooth transition into a 4-year university. Both sounded like great programs! After our info sessions and tour, Ronaldo and I decided to head to downtown Salem for lunch. We discovered that not many people are out and about in Salem during the winter. It was kind of spooky to walk down the cobbled streets by ourselves, but it was cool experience!