- School Counselors started out the year by going to Freshmen Advisory rooms and explaining credits and GPA and how that translates on the high school transcript, showing each of them a sample high school transcript. In addition students were shown how to track their courses and graduation requirements on the template that is on the last page of the Program of Studies.
• School Counselors are wrapping up the freshmen interviews that take place each fall. Students are asked to identify a favorite class and what they like most about the high school, (more freedom and mixed classes) along with such things as identifying an academic and/or personal goal they wish to achieve while in high school. This 1:1 informal meeting is a good way to establish a relationship with our incoming freshmen each year.
• The Guidance Office has been busy meeting with seniors, writing letters of recommendations and processing in the neighborhood of 600 applications so far this year. If you read the list- serv announcement from the Guidance Office regarding difficulties reported with the Common Application, you are aware of the snags in their system causing many colleges to extend Early Action and Early Decision deadline dates. However, our materials are being processed with the same accuracy and timeliness as in the past. Mrs. Mong records all of the applications going out to colleges and the subsequent decisions on each of those in our data system. Those results create the yearly STATS Book that can be viewed in the Guidance Office by students or parents.
• Speaking of the Common Application, we again offered Common Application Workshops both during Advisory and after school. The next workshop is Tuesday, December 3rd immediately after school. This is our fourth workshop.
• The Guidance Office hosted around 100 College and University Representatives this year so far. This is now likely to slow down as representatives’ return to their respective colleges and begin reading applications. Most of the representatives that visit our school are also "readers" for our students. A School Counselor sits in on each of these sessions and takes notes that are available to students who may have missed the session. We have Mrs. McCowan to thank for the orchestration of these appointments.
• The School Counseling Office also recently hosted the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Exam of which a number of students took advantage of this year. Please note that should your son/daughter ever wish to take this in the future EG is able to dictate that no contact or sharing of your child's name is allowed as a result of taking the test. The results are reviewed by a representative from the military if the student wishes to do so.
• A career awareness activity is in progress for all sophomores. This was recently started during Advisory with a pre-survey to determine how many students can identify a career of choice and what basic knowledge the student is able to provide about the career. The answers will determine what course of action the student will follow in a subsequent online activity to take place in the next several weeks as they explore, identify and find information about careers with regards to level of education, salary ranges and outlook for job growth both here in RI and nationwide.
• Thanks again to Mary Pyne who edits and summarizes the mountains of scholarship, open house and career opportunities that we receive and posts them on the list serve.
• Hope you have enjoyed the occasional thought provoking college application/process articles I have forwarded from outside sources and will continue to do so when they are of interest to parents and students.
• As always, we are here to support your child during his/her high school years.
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