"CCV Really Prepared Me"

Renee McOwen
CCV, Class of 2006

As a senior at Brattleboro High School, Renee McOwen filled out a couple of college applications, but didn’t send them in. “I didn’t believe in myself enough,” she says. “I think it was a fear of disappointing people, because neither of my parents had graduated from high school at that time. Education wasn’t a strong part of my family, and it just felt really scary, because nobody had ever done it, and there was nobody to help me.”

Five years later, she was a mom with two small children. “I had been thinking about going to college, but I wasn’t doing anything about it. Then one day I realized, if I wanted a different life for my kids, I would have to be the example. I enrolled at CCV.”

“Everybody there was just so supportive! It’s like a family. I had several classes that were really eye-opening. The professors had a good way of helping students see the larger picture. I took classes on bioethics, on public policy, and on race, ethnicity and gender, along with the Seminar in Educational Inquiry that everyone takes — and in all of those, the professors were passionate about their subject, and they passed that on to their students.”

While at CCV, Renee was accepted at prestigious Mount Holyoke College, where she’s now entering her second year. “CCV really prepared me well for going on to one of the best schools in the country,” she says. “I felt so ready academically to come in here and face these challenges.

“CCV was an incredible education — and now I can say that, because I know what the teachers at Mount Holyoke expect of me. I’ve gotten great grades. And I attribute that to CCV.”

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