I think about how this can also apply to the newly minted senior in high school – how can you make it better than you found it? You are the leaders now, you are the captains of teams and presidents of clubs and while great burdens rest on your shoulders (what will the next steps after high school be? what colleges will you apply to? how will you get all your homework done along with sports and work and applications) so too exist great opportunities. So – how do you make your year better than you found it? How do you make your classes and teams and clubs, and at my school, dorms better for having had you at their helm? The answer to this question will ultimately play itself out – but what do you want your legacy at your school and in this last year of your adolescence to have been? Now is the time when you need to decide because your actions now will determine how you will have left it by the end of the school year.

The potential is infinite: You can launch a project or club that will gain momentum and improve the lives of others. You can set the example that it’s “cool” to work hard, play fair and show kindness to those you don’t call your friends.  It’s a daily choice – it’s one that’s yours alone to make. How will you leave it better than you found it?

Heather Cavalli is the Director of College Counseling at Hyde Woodstock and an independent educational consultant. She can be reached at hcavalli@hyde.edu

I’m on an e-list of college counselors from both sides of the desk across the country. Every day I get upwards of 100 e-mails offering ideas or asking questions to better serve their students. Often – I come across information that is enormously helpful to our students and sometimes I see questions that I feel I should chime in on.

One such e-mail sent by an independent counselor recently has gotten me in a tither. Her original post was asking for advice: should her advisee disclose personal information to colleges in her applications regarding her recent treatment for drug abuse. I offered my feedback basically stating what our policy is here at Hyde – be honest, and show what has changed. A college wants to know and will take the growth of a student as a sign of readiness. This counselor thanked me for my input and I went about business as usual, early applications and editing essays.

As is customary for posts to the e-list, the original poster will then follow up by posting a compendium all the results he or she received to their query. This is where I got my goose in a gander: while most of the posts from counselors in high schools or colleges affirmed my position – some did not. “Don’t disclose,” they said, it will “freak a college out” or “it’s too early” to tell the truth. I sat here looking at my screen nonplussed.

What could their motive be? How can adults, in good conscience, tell a young person it’s ok to lie? If this event in a student’s life has taken his or her life off-course and now he or she is back on course, how does it feel to then need to lie about it? Is it about image over truth? What if a student DID get into a school and still struggles – what is her credibility with this or future schools?

I wrote back to the whole e-list, expressing my concerns and here is an excerpt from that post:

“I think this was an important question because it gets to the heart of what our first priority is – to help the student find the best fit in a college so that he or she can become the person s/he was meant to become. The profound extent to which a student thrives in a college setting is directly related to whether that setting was a “just right” fit. Colleges know their students, their programs, their environment, and they know not only who would contribute to make their communities work better but they know the most about which students have not succeeded in their environments and why.

A student needs to feel that he or she has given a college the full, true picture – that there are no skeletons in the closest, that the adults around them want them to be forthright, honest people. Sure – they may have made mistakes – who hasn’t! If the mistake is a learning experience and the student shares with the college how he or she has evolved beyond that mistake, the college will see that and honor it – if he or she still fits as a good match for the academic and social population of their school. A student who is truly dealing with a substance issue is a far stronger student if she is indeed dealing with her issues – how many kids in college flunk out because they didn’t deal with their issues beforehand?

We need to trust colleges to use information wisely. There’s a college for every student and colleges know that they are evaluating students as “works in progress.” Let’s be the mentors to these kids who are helping them live with the truths in their lives, and not teach them to cover up the unpleasant or inconvenient. Pretty soon the shellac that has been used to gloss over the truth will start to crack.”

I’m not sure how the cyber-world of counselors is going to see my reaction – but so far I have gotten one response: “Bravo!” which gives me hope. Our mission at Hyde is clear – to shepherd our young charges towards the very best they are capable of, armed with truth, and with the knowledge that they can change the world. I think it comes so naturally to us at Hyde that I have to remember, it’s not like that beyond our campuses – but I will continue to share with my college counseling colleagues throughout the world that the Hyde mission really is our collective mission.

It’s been a watershed week for many seniors – some have put to bed the bulk of their application process with a November 1 deadline, while others found themselves with a Tuesday workout because they hadn’t yet gotten all of their teacher recommendation requests. Most seniors find themselves in the middle – realizing that the stage for drafts is quickly passing them by, final exams are around the corner, “Can I do it?” the whispered mantra slowly chipping away confidence. During Wednesday’s partnership meeting Mr. Rigney reminded the seniors of what they learned during Judgment Day – the basic ideas were: we work hard, we don’t make excuses for ourselves or others and we have the ability to be tougher than we think. Then he divided the room into two groups – who feels they are meeting their obligations, and who feels they are not? It was surprising to see those who are overly judgmental of themselves and also those whose vision of their best lacks clarity. Then Mr. Rigney turned the attention to seniors in the college process and connected the theme of the day to the actions that will help seniors arrive at their future step. The meeting ended with two students examples from both ends of the spectrum. First, the group heard from two students who have pushed themselves in the college process and then two students who are finding themselves falling behind. For those who have attacked their college process with gusto, their basic message was “this is what I want, that’s why I work hard for it.” Those who spoke about what is getting in their way realized that they were letting short term priorities cloud their commitment to their vision of their future. The vision of their future is cloudy and hard to commit to.

For some students, it is a scary, scary thing to think of a world without the support and structure here at Hyde – so much so that the very idea of moving forward in the college process is paralyzing. We know this and part of the senior year process it to help seniors recognize the power they have within themselves to push through – they are stronger than they believe they are and have the ability to be tougher than they think. Don’t make excuses – do what you know you need to do and know that you can do it.

Last week I was in Baltimore to attend the annual National Association of College Admissions Counselors meeting, otherwise known as NACAC. This meeting is held in a different city each year (last year was Seattle, next year is St. Louis) and is a fantastic opportunity for college counselors to connect with peers on both sides of the college admissions desk. There are workshops on a whole range of topics: everything from financial aid to NCAA eligibility; writing the essay tips, to sharing the news of hidden-gem colleges – there’s even a college fair. It was hard to choose which workshop to attend when there were so many offered at the same time – a feeling I know our students must encounter when they go to college. Overall, I come back feeling equally refreshed and exhausted. I learned a great deal which I am bringing back to our office, both from the Conference as well as the four days of traveling from Baltimore up and down the East Coast to Philadelphia and Washington, DC to visit colleges prior to the start of NACAC. In my travels I saw Hyde-Woodstock alums Ariana Arbes ’08 at St. Joseph’s University and Taiga Koda ’08 at American University. On each occasion it was a pleasure to see our alumni in their college settings and know that they indeed found the right fit school for them. That is our whole mission, and it was terrific to see it in action.

We meet again with seniors this week to check in and see where they stand with their college counselor meetings, their Common Application draft status, getting their resume and essay finished and to work on their explanation of transcript. We meet with students from 12:30 to 1:30 every day and are beginning evening Office Hours as well. I feel good about where the seniors as a whole stand, even if they are feeling very nervous. The general attitude is one of wanting to get a move on, which is just where it should be at this juncture. By Fall Family Weekend, the bulk of the seniors should be pretty much set with the basics of their applications, and will then need to settle on a final list of colleges for which they will then work on supplemental applications if there are any. Our goal is that by the winter vacation, all of our students will be done with their college applications. A big dream, but one I know we can dare to dream.

• 9/18/2009
• 9/11/2009

On this tour – Birmingham-Southern College was school number 9 on day 3 and, as when you go to a museum, colleges you visit on long tours can tend to start merging in your mind. Not BSC! What an outstanding college. The students were engaged with us, loved our quirky questions, were eager to share with us their research and in general, showed through their presence how much they loved their school. After the tour we met the college’s president, Dr. David Pollick, who reminded me so much of Laura Gauld – real, present and with his eyes on the vision of the school. Everyone from faculty to students to the admissions staff was on the same page – providing an exciting learning environment. I also had the chance to meet Tyler Peterson who worked directly with high schools in the northeast. He offered to come for a visit and, in an offhand comment, also offered to do a workshop on the College Process. I wasn’t going to pass that one up! So last Tuesday night the junior and senior class met with Mr. Peterson and he talked with them about the College Process. The students had good questions for him and several came up to him afterward to keep the conversation going.

In my eyes – there’s a college for everyone. Fit is the key to success and, not surprisingly, this was Tyler’s message as well. Our goal at Hyde is to help your students find that fit. It’s an exciting prospect and we love what we do!

Last Thursday Dan Osar, Lynn Dawes, Karen McGovern and I met for the first time this year with the Senior Class of 2010. We handed out a nifty new Workbook as well as covered some of the basic themes, resources, means of communication and tips for the coming year. There was a buzz in the air and we could tell the seniors are feeling the oncoming experience of the College Process. Some are nervous, some are confident, and everyone has done some progress towards their college goals. We ended the meeting with some prizes for most times accessing Naviance and the Method Test Prep through Naviance.

This week we will begin meeting with half of the senior class once a week during English classes on Thursdays and Fridays – this will give John Rigney some time with a more intimate group of seniors and it will give us a chance to get to see what the seniors have done so far and what their next steps are. John will start his essay unit with the seniors in the next week or so. When I’ve told students that they will still get some support with their essays, you could see the relief in their eyes. Step by step, as the fall trimester progresses, each student will find their path to completed applications.

We’ll be updating our blog a few times a week. Sometimes we’ll profile a student’s experience as they move through the process. Keep an eye out for what we’re up to on the College Chronicles.