Thanks to the continuation of the block schedule this year, the College Counseling Department has been able to incorporate a new line of classes aimed at helping the class of 2023 in their college journey. These classes are not new, but the college counselors decided to take advantage of the extra time with this year’s schedule to educate the junior class on the complex world of college applications.

“Now that SLUH has Studium, we saw this as an opportunity to not just do this haphazardly, but to have these planned out and done at appropriate times,” said Kevin Crimmins, the Director of the College Counseling Department. “We want the classes to build on each other so students can have a more sequential, more thoughtful, and a more reflective process.” 

The first class was intended to help juniors navigate the changing landscape of college admissions by starting the process earlier and introducing them to weekly visits from college representatives. The second class went over a college application and gave further insight into the timeline that juniors need for next year, especially with the PSATs coming up later this October.

“They allowed us to see what our applications as SLUH students should look like and how we can achieve our college goals,” said junior Amon Binder.

 “The college application process has become increasingly competitive and colleges are asking students to have more concrete, specific ideas about what they want to do with their career than we believe they ever have had in the past,” said Crimmins. “We wanted to provide a relevant curriculum that's going to help students to handle this increasingly complex problem.”

  The classes so far seem to be accomplishing their goal of informing the class of 2023 about the college admissions process.

“The classes were helpful in the fact that they gave us a good timeframe of what our goals should be and then gave us the tools to pursue our dream colleges as well as keeping our options open to others,” said Amon Binder. “I think it gave me a good sense of what I need to complete by next November in order to shape my future and my academic goals.”

“We just want students to feel and to be more in charge of their college process, their career readiness, their ability to engage at the right time with the right level of knowledge,” said Crimmins. “I know that there are a lot of big ideas, but I just want students to be ready enough for when next November rolls around.”