The fourth episode of the Future College Parent Podcast features Ms. Suzanne Gluck, Guidance Counselor at East Williston Union Free School District. This episode is special to me because Suzanne was actually a student of mine back when I worked in the college housing program at the University at Buffalo. I remember Suzanne as an undergraduate student herself, and specifically the joy, the energy, and the passion she has for life. It’s such a thrill to see her now helping students navigate all that is high school and beyond. She’s super knowledgeable and is such as caring professional. What a great honor for me to see how much Suzanne has grown. I’m extremely proud of her! And I’m confident you’ll see in our talk how she provides a solid structure for students but allows them to exhibit their own creativity to achieve their individual goals.

Episode Timeline:

[01:01] Introducing Suzanne Gluck!
[02:50] Suzanne’s role in supporting parents and students in getting college and career ready.
[04:52] Why prepare students for college right from 8th grade?
[06:03] About Naviance and its role
[09:13] How a high school guidance counselor is helpful to students.
[12:18] Solutions for students who don’t advocate for themselves
[14:50] How to include all students on the guidance and counseling radar.
[17:06] Does every school have a counselor?
[17:54] How parents can assist students with college preparation.
[22:29] Putting a student in a safe uncomfortable position
[24:57] Advice for the higher education system
[28:55] Partnering with parents to overcome higher education websites communication issues
[30:43] Justin’s 5 takeaways from the episode

Five things I learned from my talk with Suzanne!

1. You can start preparing and creating your student’s college going identity as early as the 8th grade by helping your student get to know who they are (I suggest even as early as the 6th grade). Parents can begin to develop this identity by asking open-ended questions to help their student reflect on what they’ve learned and liked. Or parents can challenge your student to step out of their comfort zone, they may surprise themselves or fail. Either is a good thing as they’re growing!
2. Check to see if your school uses a platform to create and track post-secondary plans. For example, Suzanne discussed her school uses the Naviance College, Career, and life readiness platform as a locker to track all the stuff and things her students are doing to become college and career ready. If your school isn’t using a platform, that’s OK, you can start a notebook or begin to create a portfolio of experiences to track everything! Note, I am not affiliated, nor do I endorse Naviance and only mention it by name as Suzanne mentioned using it in her school.
3. You can help your student to be their own self-advocate and learning to speak for themselves by helping them articulate their needs, wants, and how they’re going to be successful. Try this first before asserting yourself as their advocate.
4. Know the name of your school counselor and encourage your students build the relationship with that person.
5. When you’re at the college choice stage, reach out to a potential campus and ask to speak with an admissions counselor and/or student representative that represents or has a similar interest as your student. For example, a specific major or interest. This will help the student determine the feel and fit they get from the institution.

Resources:

Future College Parent Podcast website: https://www.futurecollegeparent.com/

Future College Parent Network: The Future College Parent Network is here for you to post what you learned by listening to this episode and engage with other listeners so we can learn together! Please join at: www.facebook.com/groups/futurecollegeparentnetwork/

Listen to episodes on https://www.futurecollegeparent.com/: Please share the podcast widely with other parents, leaders of activities your student is involved in, and your school administrators so they can share with your school district. You can also let parents know the show is streaming directly from the website and there is no need to download anything! The show is also on your favorite podcast platforms as well.

Parent Action Plan!: Parents can download the action plan document to actively engage with their student, secondary, and post-secondary professionals to help their student prepare, chose and finance college.

Lesson Plan & Worksheet: Leaders of activities your student is involved in, and your school administrators can download the Lesson Plan and Worksheet for this episode to help teach all Future College Parents the content of this podcast episode.

Referenced links:

American School Counselor Association: The national average student to school counselor ratio was 415 to one for the 2020-2021 school year. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/About-School-Counseling/School-Counselor-Roles-Ratios

Transcription:

Justin Alger 00:23
Suzanne, welcome to the future college parent podcast. Thanks for being here and helping future college parents it also thanks for being one of our first six guests in the six-episode premiere of the future college parent podcast and let’s start off if you could please share your role and describe what capacity you support parents and students in getting college and career ready.

Suzanne Gluck 02:58
Sure. So, I am a high school guidance counselor. Many schools call it school counselors, my school it’s titled guidance counselor, it really just depends on where you work. Essentially, I support high school students grades eight through 12. And I am with them all five years. My school is a little unique in that we have our eighth graders in the high school, but I support them all five years that they are in the school. So, I have a portion of the alphabet. My role in regard to parents and navigating the college process is it’s an ongoing process starting from eighth grade, getting students prepared with Naviance, which is a tool that we can dive into a little bit. Many of you may not be familiar with the program, many schools utilize it in terms of career exploration, Hollins traits, as well as resume building surveys to help communicate with the school counselor, as well as navigating the college process in terms of searching for schools, helping find matches a housing spot for standardized tests. And it also is a way for the students to connect with their actual college applications. So, I am in continuous contact with my students as well as my parents on a daily basis. Also coming from a very high performing high school. My families are really involved in the college process, which makes it very easy. So, you know, one of the biggest advices that I could give to a parent is to be involved in the process. Help your child out with the process because when you are in sync with what’s going on, they’re going to have more success with finding the right fit.

Justin Alger 04:50
Thank you for sharing and now, you mentioned that you start in the eighth grade. Doesn’t that seem a little bit early?

Suzanne Gluck 04:56
You know, it’s one thing to go and take tours on an actual college campus. And I do believe students need to start their college going identity. So that belief that they can maybe go off to college, post high school life early. But at the beginning, what’s really important as an eighth grader, is getting to know who you are your passions and what you like, specifically. So, when I meet with my eighth graders, most of our questions aren’t tailored as to what college do you want to go to. And some of them have aspirations already, maybe because they have an adult’s an older sibling. Some of them may have friends or family that have high profile jobs, that that’s what they’re looking for. But getting to know what they’re good at, what they like, is really important, especially helping students start tailoring elective choices, extracurricular activities, as well as opportunities for in school community service, as well as out of school community service.

Justin Alger 06:03
And now is that where this Naviance comes into to track those activities?

Suzanne Gluck 06:08
Absolutely. So, this year, specifically, my school was back at 100% capacity, which was amazing. Since day one, obviously, things were a little unique with math with given COVID however, we had the opportunity to push into our eighth-grade classrooms and ninth grade classrooms, which we haven’t been able to in the past under the regime of a new director. And one of the goals is to get our students even actually earlier than that collaborating with the middle school, onto this program Naviance. So Naviance has access for students throughout the district if the district purchases the program. ...