Monday, December 3, 2018

Fall 2018 Update from the School Counseling Office

Update from the School Counseling Office                                                             December 2018

  • The School Counseling Office has been busy!  Counselors are meeting with seniors, writing letters of recommendation and have already processed in the neighborhood of 842  applications so far this year.  Approximately 550 of these applications fall into the category of Early Decision or Early Action.  Typically the total number of applications at this time of year will double by the end of the school year.  The guidance secretary Mrs.Mong continues to record all of the applications going out to colleges and the subsequent decisions in our database. Those results create the yearly STATS Book that can be viewed in the School Counseling Office by students or parents as well as online on the Aspen homepage.  If you have a senior please remind him/her that all schools to which they apply must be documented in guidance by filling out a yellow cover sheet and turning it into Mrs. Mong.  This becomes a way for Mrs. Mong to track and record that valuable information for the STATS Book.  A reminder that the STATS book offers just one piece of the puzzle in determining a student’s likelihood of being able to be accepted to a college. 
  • Speaking of the college applications, we offered a Common Application Workshop last month  during Advisory.  The next workshop will be in December 11th  during Advisory.  Students should sign up for that in guidance.  Students requesting individual help are always accommodated and if a student wishes to meet after school that can be arranged as well.
  • The School Counseling Office hosted around 85 college and university representatives this year.  For the most part representatives have now returned to their respective colleges and universities to begin reading applications.  Most of the representatives that visit our school are also "readers" of our student applications. We have the guidance secretary Mrs. McCowan to thank for the orchestration of these college representative appointments.
  • The School Counseling Office also recently hosted the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Exam (ASVAB) in November and several students signed up to take this exam. 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 a child's name with the military is allowed as a result of taking the test. Students do have the option to review their results with a military representative if they so wish. This is just another tool for students to see if they lean towards a certain area of interest that might point them in a specific direction for a career, military or otherwise. 
  • Several weeks ago during Advisory all freshmen heard options that are available to them at two of our  regional Career and Technical Centers.  Any student wishing to pursue this path should speak to their school counselor.  There is an option for students to visit a center for a day prior to applying so interested students should at least take advantage of this opportunity. Transportation is provided for these visits.  Daily transportation is also provided if the student enrolls in one of the career centers that are located within a certain distance from EGHS.
  • A career awareness activity will start next week for sophomores. This will take place during Advisory and it is anticipated that it will conclude for all sophomores the first week of January.  As part of this activity students will explore, identify and find information about careers with regards to level of education, salary ranges and outlook for job growth both in RI and nationwide.  If you wish to see the website each counselor uses to guide her students through these activities you can view it at:   mynextmove.org.
  • For planning purposes starting in February junior parents will begin receiving invitations to a post high school individual planning meeting with their child’s counselor.   Prior to that invitation we will meet with all juniors as a group to outline the process in general and to discuss some post high school options as well as issue their current transcript for review. 
  • In conjunction with the post high school planning with students we host a February parent/student night featuring a college admissions officer that all parent/students are welcome to attend.  That presentation takes place in the auditorium.  Date and time will be advertised in January. 
  • Did you know that your son or daughter can earn college credit for free outside of the school day? The State of Rhode Island has created several different pathways for this to happen. The website RICourseChoice.org outlines the options now available for students to attend classes outside of the school day.  If you have specific questions please contact Mrs. Wilson in the guidance department. 
  • By mid December the school counselors will wrap up the individual freshmen interviews that started earlier this fall.  Counselors inquire about the transition to the high school, current courses, outside activities, etc  along with asking students to identify an academic and/or personal goal they wish to achieve while in high school. This can be either a long term or short term goal.  This 1:1 informal meeting is a good way to establish a relationship with incoming freshmen each year.
  • Thanks to the Beautify EGHS Committee there is a new  bulletin board in the glass case at the top of the steps leading to the second floor hallway.  This bulletin board is designed to help students identify their counselor by face/name and suggests ways for a student to get in touch with the counselor and reasons why they might want to access them.

Please visit the School Counseling website at:  goo.gl/nUzYnh  or by going to the egsd.net website.
There is a lot of valuable information on the site for parents and students.

As always, we are here to support your child throughout his/her high school years!

School Counseling/Guidance Department

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