OSWEGO, NY – With more than 100 combined years of experience, the Oswego High School Counseling Department prides itself on its ability to respond to students’ needs quickly and professionally.
The OHS Counseling Department is in the spotlight this month for the Oswego City School District.
Counselors Geoffrey Baer, Shawn Caroccio, Barbara Carroll, Rachel Henderson, Lisa Roman and Marilee Taylor can be found in the OHS counseling suite supporting individual students and student groups every day.
In addition, they have recently implemented two programs that they are proud to highlight.
The counselors introduced Naviance, a computer program that allows students to search, organize, and manage their career and college plans and applications.
Naviance enables schools to develop and manage multi-year plans for every student to chart a path toward graduation while achieving college and workplace readiness.
This program was introduced to current seniors in May of their junior year and the department is proud to report that they have “implemented this program with all of our students and faculty.
The program allows for transcripts, letters of recommendation and other documents to be sent electronically – a step toward “going green” by reducing paper and ink use.
“We’re always looking for new ways to reach parents and students,” said Henderson.
Naviance provides for better and more rapid communication with students and parents through emailing, surveys, information updates, etc. directly within the system.
The second innovative program introduced by the Counseling Department is the Student Services Expo.
March 2011 was the second year of this event and attendance tripled from the first year as word spread.
The target audience is students and parents grades 7-12.
The focus of this expo is college and career “exposure.”
This event found booths and seminars presented by experts in the field, covering topics such as high school graduation requirements, NCAA requirements, college admissions, bullying, writing college essays and resumes, anxiety/school phobia and more.
The expo received great reviews and overwhelmingly positive feedback from both students and parents.
“We strive to constantly improve our services,” said Taylor.
“We collaborate with other districts to examine and implement best practices,” added Carroll.
The OHS Counseling Department is a well functioning team that works well together because “everyone brings something unique and important to the table” said Roman.
The counselors agree that they are supported in their building by new OHS principal Brian Hartwell.
“He is supportive and provides us leadership, allowing us to innovate and creating a sense of family,” sad Baer.
In addition, the team recognizes that they couldn’t do their work without the help and efficiency of their secretaries Jeanette Pauldine and Sharon Vollmer.
For all that they have done to help OHS students achieve their highest potential, OHS Guidance Department is being recognized in our Teacher Spotlight for May 2011.
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