Counselor shares insights on College Center
by Natasha Ringnalda, ’13
When that time comes to begin applying to colleges, or even think about choosing a college, where does one go to for help? At UAHS, students have the opportunity to simply make an appointment and meet with the counselor in the College Center. Students are given the opportunity to receive help when applying to colleges in order to make the process less stressful. Located in the chemistry hallway, the College Center is a helping hand when trying to get started on one’s higher educational path, no matter what the grade level.
The College Center has information about transcripts and primarily, access to Family Connection. Family Connection is a website dedicated to the learning process throughout the years of high school and focuses on different colleges, and multiple interests that one could possibly want to major or minor in. This is also a way students can communicate with school’s advisers and make it easier to learn more about different universities.
College Center counselor Mark Davis said that when a student enters through the doors of the College Center, he will try his best to make them feel comfortable and less intimidated when approaching college-based information.
“We’re going to make sure that they’re a part of Family Connection, and once you’re a part of Family Connection, you pretty much have the one stop shop for college at your hands,” Davis said. “Basically everything you need to know about college can be found there.”
Along with Family Connection, the College Center offers other informational events.
“This is the area where all college reps come to visit with students during their junior and senior year,” Davis said. “During students’ senior year, they are in and out of here, because we are the focal point for all applications [and] college information. But my hope is to capture students during the sophomore or junior year.”
In order to do so, senior Andrea Lowe believes the College Center needs to do a better job of informing students of its existence.
“[The College Center] should probably have more advertisements to get juniors to come in when they want to start figuring out college [information] because it can be a confusing process to start,” Lowe said.
However, Davis said, the College Center is trying new ways to reach out and gather students to make an appointment.
“[The College Center] has newsletters every month that are sent out, and we send emails to the students through Family Connection,” Davis said.
This should be used to the student bodys full advantage when looking for and applying to colleges. Davis encourages sophomores and juniors to “stop by and make an appointment.”