Engaging Students Series: Juniors (11 th ) Grade Part 1 Or: Finding Sanity in the Midst of Chaos

Your Hostess Cyndy McDonald -Middle school and high school counselor -Experience working in college access program AVID -Founder of HECA, MyCCA.net and co-founder of GuidedPath -Launching AVEST- American Veterans non- profit organization -Passion for education -First generation college student

Sophomore Recap Recommendation: Start early Update student and parent accounts Offer Find My Spark, College Affordability Shaper and other online surveys Assign students to research using college style Set up testing schedule Have students record college visits online or using available forms Prepare for ramping up in Junior Year Review Engaging Sophomores (and 8-9 th Graders) recordings/slides at

Webinar Agenda  5 Management tips to help you  Surveys to use in the junior year  Kaetlyn's Tips- from a student perspective  Testing Momentum  Ways to use the Guided Search to find best matches in colleges  Data management: reports  Questions/Answers

Finding Sanity How can you keep your sanity amidst the chaos?

5 Tips to Help You Stay Sane 1. Organize all students ProspectsACTIVEArchived Save time by assigning students in groups at once as ACTIVE ACTIVE students have most access You only pay for ACTIVE students PROSPECTS and ARCHIVED are free Stay connected to all students – - communicate by - add advisor notes & track information

2. Activate Student Accounts  Student Accounts = Sanity Assign students and parents online accounts in GuidedPath Let them do more for themselves using online account in GuidedPath What they do for themselves = less you need to do for them Mantra – “Use your account ””

3. Communication is key 1. Organize Organize messages and themes for students 2. Calendar Schedule on calendar Use word document to organize message templates 3. Record Track messages in one place

4. Calendar it!  Set appointments and assignments in calendars  Doesn’t happen if not on calendar!

5. Make it crowd friendly  Use group mode to View Organize Plan Tips for group mode: Include student name at beginning of appointments/assignments Create protocol for appointments/assignments Generates automatic reminders/notifications

Engage through more surveys Juniors should: 1. Update Activity record 2. Do College Match 3. Update Course Plan 4. Do Design a College 5. Do Getting 2 Know U if not done before 6. And other surveys as needed (custom, Athletic, Find My Spark) Students LOVE to do surveys and learn about themselves

Kaetlyn Tells It Like it Is Getting 2 Know U.  Coming up with something to write about for the Common Application was particularly challenging for me, as the prompts are very broad. The Getting 2 Know U survey gets your brain rolling and ideas flowing. Any question within this survey is a great place to start when trying to write your Common Application essay. Design A College.  I find the Design a College survey most useful in organizing my thoughts. For me, after visiting ten colleges I became unsure as to why I liked a college. I simply had a general feeling for each school. This survey helped me to focus on the specifics of a college, and gave me a general idea of my ideal college. This survey can be used both as a starting point when creating a college list, as well as a reminder when all of your potential schools begin to blur together. Read all of Kaetlyn’s blogs at blogs

Recommended Test Schedule- Juniors TestDatesComment Diagnostic testOngoingHelp students identify which test to concentrate on in next 2 years: ACT or SAT? PSATOct. NOT a practice test SAT/ Int’l SATFall, SpringTake at least 2 x, no more than 3 x, finish by June ACTFall, SpringTake at least 2 x, no more than 3 x, finish by June AP/IBMaySchedule as appropriate SAT Subject TestMay or June Strong subjects, if not doing higher level. Example: World History, Biology. See 4 year Testing schedule at practices-webinar/ practices-webinar/ See 4 year Testing schedule at practices-webinar/ practices-webinar/

Testing: Sanity Tip  Students self- enter scores Saves time Empowers students Improves communication Enhance counseling Generates automatic reminders for : regular & late registration: and prior to test date. Remember your mantra: Put it in your account!

College Search & Lists GuidedPath uses 4 search categories: General Information Academic Financial Aid Social Experience Also includes: Organized tagged lists Comparison columns Filters ACT did a search and found GuidedPath to be the most comprehensive on the market.

Search Tips  Teach student search tips Start broad Use COMPARE for multiple columns Select only 1-2 filters

Infinite Search Combinations Possible Professional – Precise – Piece of cake! Waited for 5 years for technology to catch up with imagination

Reports Individual & Group Reports

Coming Next: Engaging Juniors: Part 2  Agenda Using Advisor notes Using notifications & reminders effectively Finalizing lists Activities for essay brainstorming Understanding My Chances Group mode- more ways to keep your sanity! Special features for International Students Register now! Feb am PST Details at

Check it out  Let’s log into  Sample student: Andy Awesome  I am using Audry Apple

Support?  Knowledge Base View articles Watch videos Do a search Submit a request net net Call us! Counseling?