By: Isabella Valero
Everyone who has an email knows that it is almost always filled with junk mail from websites or other notifications and it is even more common for students preparing for their future. Whether they are athletes, or taking AP classes, students have been getting more and more mail from smaller colleges, AP classroom boards, and even junk mail from websites they don’t even visit that are filled with mostly unnecessary information.
Students during this time, especially their Junior and Senior year, have had their share of mail and have been receiving mail from smaller colleges along with many opportunities that they are presented with.
Students and Their Types of Mail:
Many students who have had experience with having an overwhelming amount of mail from many sources explain how they feel towards it and what type of colleges that have sent them information about their campus.
Kristilyn Hetherington, ’21:
Kristilyn Hetherington, ‘21 is an athlete at Redwood and is currently looking at colleges, and going through the recruitment process for track right now. She explains that her email consists of, “a lot of small colleges like D3 or NAIA schools trying to recruit me.”
Hetherington also explains that she has been looking at many colleges that offer a track and field scholarship and also a Journalism program.
She states that she has received “a lot of small scholarship opportunities or college information for a Journalism program.”
While she does receive a lot of different types of emails from multiple sources, she explains that although it is a lot of information, she “wouldn’t consider any of that ‘spam’ just because it is interesting.”
Hetherington states, “I looked through all of my emails in case there is an opportunity that I haven’t thought of but sometimes the scholarships from random websites are “spam” because they might not actually benefit me. It just wants to promote their program.”
Sydney Brammer, ’22:
Sydney Brammer, ‘22 is also an athlete currently viewing colleges in an effort to find a scholarship for soccer. She also receives multiple emails from colleges as well as school reminders.
She mainly gets emails from “NCSA about information for scholarships and reminders of Zoom meetings I can attend to get more information” and “emails from a variety of colleges interested in me for playing soccer for them.”
Brammer states, “the colleges give me the dates of when and where their soccer camps will be held.”
Aside from the colleges that give her information on soccer camps, she is also involved in an Educational Talent Search program with Fresno State mainly referred to as “ETS”.
She states, “I get lots of emails from ETS which is a talent search program at Fresno State I’m involved with helping me stay on track with my grades and connecting me with colleges.”
Brammer, just like other students during their Junior and Senior year have had many college emails along with information about colleges, also receive the usual “spam” mail from different websites. Brammer has received some from Spotify, TikTok, Fit-Bit, and others which have filled up her email as well.
Rylie Jundt, ’22:
Rylie Jundt, ‘22 is a part of the Law and Justice Academy and Mock Trial at Redwood whom has gotten emails from college messages, Schoology posts, and also many scholarship opportunities.
She states, “my email also has Mock Trial updates, and some junk mail. I usually get “spam” mail from some minor news blogs for some reason.”
Jundt explains that she receives many emails and information from one specific school and she states, “I tend to get a lot of college related stuff from SMU because I toured the campus this Summer.”
Jundt receives many emails from SMU, Southern Methodist University, and Dallas Texas “about events that their students are having as well as major campus news and promoting college tours. They also send out counseling information so you can talk to counselors about the application process.”
Emily Orr, ’22:
Emily Orr, ’22 explains that she receives a lot of mail from certain universities describing what they have to offer, and sending information about their schools.
She states, “There’s this site called Capex, that I get emails from and it’s there to show me what colleges I would be interested in.”
Orr explains that she also receives information from colleges she is most interested in such as, “Indiana University, BYU, and Idaho. I’m also looking into Southern Utah University.”
Websites like College Board, Capex, and smaller schools interested in students playing sports have been overfilling students’ emails during their Junior and Senior years which is giving them more opportunities and information about their futures.
Isabella Valero
Isabella Valero '22 is a second year journalism member of the Redwood Gigantea. She is interested in Journalism and passionate about wanting to write more stories about sports. Outside of Gigantea, Isabella is a part of the Basketball and Track teams here at Redwood Highschool. You can reach her by email at
isabe.va7403@vusd.us
Tags: clubs & lifestyles, colleges, emails, humans of redwood, isabellavalero, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers
Thank you for including me in your story, Izzy! You did a great job interviewing and incorporated them well into your story. This is a very interesting topic as upperclassmen have been very busy with their emails lately. Keep it up!