Cornelius Elementary first-graders (from left) Charlotte Porter, Morgan James and Courtney Guice don college t-shirts during the school’s “Teaching and Learning our Way to Higher Education” week.

Led by school psychologist Ann Wayland, the students have spent the week learning about different colleges and universities, and discussing the importance of continuing education through elementary, middle, high school and college.

Guest speakers from area schools, including Johnson C. Smith University and Central Piedmont Community College, visited each morning to make announcements over the school’s morning news and brought with them some school paraphernalia. Teachers and students dressed in college clothing to show school spirit and students interviewed their parents about the colleges they attended. Students also researched different schools and school admissions requirements and played college trivia games for prizes.