By By Adrienne McKenzie
Escambia County High School freshmen learned some pointers Tuesday morning on how to make their four years at ECHS count.
The freshmen were a part of the Making High School Count program from Making It Count.
ECHS principal Carl Raley said the program was to let the students know how to make correct choices throughout their high school years and throughout the rest of their lives.
"It was just about making choices," Raley said. "It was a program on the choices students will be presented in the future and in life. It'll be up to them to make the correct choices and they won't always make the correct ones. But, then they have to step up to the plate."
The Making High School Count program is a one-hour presentation that is free for students. It is intended to assist students comprehend the importance of high school. The program speaker also talks about transitional issues including time management and study habits.
Vice president of Monster's Making It Count programs JR Cifani said in a press release that the objective of the program is to give encouraging messages to the students.
"Entry into high school and college are key transition periods in a student's academic career," Cifani said. "Our goal is to provide and reinforce the positive messages counselors and teachers are giving to their students during these crucial times and help students understand that anyone can be successful if they choose to be."
Raley said the program went well.
"Those kind of programs are really important," he said. "We need more of them. If you can get to one of the students it's worth the time. The students were very attendance."
The speaker at ECHS, Chris Lawrence, went to the University of Southern Mississippi on a full-paid speech scholarship. He graduated from the college with honors with a bachelor's degree in speech communications. He now speaks to students over the Untied States. He has spoken to more than 100,000 students.
Raley said Lawrence was a great speaker.
"He was very good," Raley said. "He was enthusiastic and could relate to the children and they could relate to the stories he told."
The program is free to students because of contributions from: Shell, Internet Broadcasting Systems, My College Options, Monster, Careers and Colleges, Axia College of the University of Phoenix and Tutor.com.
For more information about the Making It Count program, visit http://www.makingitcount.com.