July 24, 2025
Jayda Tez, a senior-to-be at McDaniel High School in Northeast Portland, always envisioned leaving her home city to attend college.
Two enlightening summer weeks at the University of Portland’s inaugural Pilots Pre-College Program has given her a fresh outlook.
“I used to think I wouldn’t want to be this close to home for college,” Tez explained as the University’s 12-day immersive pre-college program for high school students drew to a close. “This program has put things in a bit more perspective. I feel like I’m away from home when I’m on this campus—and it’s such a great school.”
Tez planned to start applying to colleges, including UP, about a week after studying, exploring, and experiencing UP college life alongside 16 high school colleagues who hailed from the Bay Area, Guam, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Diego, Seattle, Honolulu, and yes, right here in Portland.
“The goal of this program is to give these high school students a real sense of what it means to come to college,” said Sean Ducey ’13, ’19, UP’s Director of Summer Programs & Conferences. While pre-college programs are more prevalent on the East Coast, Ducey says UP’s new program is unique in the western part of the country.
The first cohort of Pilots Pre-College students, who range from high school sophomores to seniors, spent their two weeks as campus residents in Corrado Hall. After breakfast each day, they attended morning classes in one of two areas of academic interest—engineering or public health. Following lunch, they dove into experiential learning projects, followed by all-group sessions on topics like leadership, wellness, and character-building.
Dinner, recreational activities, and late-evening residence hall snacks and games rounded out each action-packed day. On the weekend, they took trips around the city, cooked a meal together, and ventured to Cannon Beach.
Exploring Portland and the Oregon Coast gave Mason Chang, a future engineering major from Moraga, Calif., a better sense of UP’s connection to the city and nearby attractions. After describing how he built a tower of marshmallows and spaghetti during a lab lesson about earthquake resistance, Chang declared, “I can definitely see myself going to college here.”
Tez plans to major in nursing and public health. Spending two weeks in non-credit, introductory classes with UP School of Nursing & Health Innovations professors opened her eyes to what she is heading into.
“We did a lot of learning about stress at a public health level. We really zoomed in. I’ve never been taught about stress, anxiety, and trauma in that sort of a way,” Tez said. “The professors just teach so differently—it’s so cool.”
While Tez was filling up her notes app with reminders of things she’ll need to bring to college in the fall of 2026, Jeyda Djorgee, a rising sophomore at Portland Central Catholic High School, is in the earliest stages of planning for her first year of college in 2028.
“I’ve been learning new things every day and it’s been really fun,” Djorgee said, “I’m increasing my vocabulary. I’m so excited to impress my mom with all the big words I’ve learned!”
“I see so many smiles on student’s faces. I can see they’re have a great time,” said Nick Blaylock, Associate Director of the program. For Ducey, watching future collegians enjoy late night games of pool and foosball in Corrado Hall captured the spirit and the purpose of Pilots Pre-College.
“They had so much fun together—just getting to be UP students and experience what this amazing place is.”
Pilots Pre-College students who go through the admissions process and end up enrolling at UP are eligible to receive up to $1,500 in additional financial aid. Learn More at Pilots Pre-College.
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5000 N. Willamette Blvd.,
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