In late October Stagg’s counseling team hosted workshops dedicated to helping seniors apply to colleges. The counselors provide help for various college applications, including those from UC and CSU.
The workshops are hosted in the library, where various students and counselors gather to work on applications. They are provided multiple times throughout the semester and application period, offering them as many times as possible during the school day and even after school.
Julie Gomez, an 11th-grade counselor, happened to be one of the counselors who attended the workshops. Gomez believes the workshop will help students start and finish their college applications and provide them with the support they need.
According to the counselors, most students needed help with coursework and how to put classes in, as well as just getting started on different websites. The schedule of the workshops was posted on the Staggs counseling page on Instagram, to help promote it on a different platform where students may be more active. Gomez says “With all of us (the counselors) we can roam around and help students out that way.”
To help prepare students for college, AVID, a class to help students get ready for college and careers attends those workshops. Senior, Tutuila Quintero, says the workshop is very beneficial, “it helped me get my college applications done and gave me more time, it allowed me to ask the counselors for help with whatever I needed.” Quintero states.
The session helped Quintro feel more confident in his application before they got sent away. Although it was confusing at first the help of the counselors and those around him allowed him to become more familiar with the application process. “They (the counselors) were able to help me and a lot of other people” stated Quintero.
Another student who also attended through AVID is Mariessa Donaldson. The block schedule confused Donaldson and the workshop helped her with all of the questions she had. “I had a lot of questions beforehand since I had no experience with college applications but it helped me figure out what to do,” stated Donaldson.
She had no one else to turn to due to being one of the first in her family to attend a university. According to Donaldson the counselors students navigate through the application process as well as getting fee waivers for different colleges.
The application process has helped countless students get into colleges as they were able to have their questions answered by the counselors. Gomez states “It’s rewarding when the seniors come back and tell us what students they got into and what they were able to do.” The counselors love to hear all the positives that come from the workshops.
