Game Plan: College provides free information, advice, and support designed to help high school students plan for and pursue their educational and career goals beyond high school.

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Game Plan: College provides free information, advice and support designed to help high school students plan for and pursue their educational and career goals beyond high school. Through workshops, advising, and special events, students gain the knowledge and skills they need to identify their best-fit college or postsecondary option. Our Game Plan: College team is dedicated to ensuring that all students have the support they need to achieve the futures they envision. 

All Game Plan: College programs and services are free and open to high school students who reside in Durham County. The program targets students who come from families with unmet financial need, students who will be the first in their families to attend college, or students who are members of a traditionally underrepresented racial group.

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Impact

More than
2,000
students served.
More than
400
one-one-advising sessions held annually.
All
14
Durham public high schools served

Game Plan: College Calendar

Resources


Meet The Game Plan: College Team

Christina Villegas

Director of Postsecondary Access
cvillegas@emilyk.org
919-680-0308 x230

Christina joined the Emily K Center in 2019 as a postsecondary access advisor with Game Plan: College, bringing more than five years of experience with direct college-access work in both urban and rural settings. Today, Christina oversees our Game Plan: College program as our director of postsecondary access. She earned her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Favorite late-night college snack: Hot Cheetos and coffee
Favorite subject: Math

Henry Capers, Jr.

Postsecondary Access Advisor
hcapers@emilyk.org
919-680-0308 x232

Henry joined the Emily K Center team in September 2021, serving as a postsecondary access advisor with Game Plan: College. Henry is well-positioned to help students with their college goals having earned his B.S. from St. Augustine’s University and his MPA from North Carolina Central University. He is also currently pursuing his doctoral degree at Walden University.

Henry works with the following high schools: Durham School of the Arts, Northern High School, and Riverside High School.

Favorite late-night college snack: Cool Ranch Doritos
Favorite college course: History of Black Cinema

Cindy Emelina Cortez

Postsecondary Access Advisor
ccortez@emilyk.org
919-680-0308 x231

Cindy joined the Emily K Center and our Game Plan: College team during the summer of 2022. In her role as postsecondary access advisor, Cindy works closely with area high schools to help students identify and pursue their best-fit postsecondary options. Cindy earned her B.A. from East Carolina University.

Favorite book: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Favorite college course: Gender in Gamer Culture and Abnormal Psychology

Gordon Stanley

Postsecondary Access Advisor
gstanley@emilyk.org

Gordon joined the Emily K Center in 2023 as a Postsecondary Access Advisor. He has a bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology from Duke, as well as an M.Ed. and Ph.D in Counseling Psychology. Gordon has had a career in education as a university admissions director, college counseling director, and career counselor at several universities.

Favorite course: The Psychology of the Child in History and Literature
Best advice ever received about education: Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t (with credit to Bill Nye, the Science Guy)

Mackenzie Warren

Postsecondary Access Advisor
mwarren@emilyk.org
919-680-0308 x230

Mackenzie has been working with the Emily K Center since 2021 in various roles, including a program volunteer and now a Postsecondary Access Advisor with Game Plan: College. She is currently a senior at Duke University, studying Psychology and Education.

Favorite book: Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption
Favorite college course: Sources of Strength

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