M.A. Counseling Newsletter
August 2019
Welcome back! We hope you had a fun and relaxing summer!
In This Issue
- Counseling Department Services: What we do
- Remind Text Alerts
- Upcoming Events
- MISP Fair
- CTCL Fair
- ACT/SAT
- College Rep Visits at M.A.
- Supporting Your Student Through the College Application Process
- Wellness Corner
Counseling Department Services: What we do
- Guiding toward an appropriately challenging course load
- Additional support to teachers, parents, and students
- Safe, welcoming and confidential
- Addressing issues around anxiety, depression, and general well-being
- Peer and family relationship challenges
- College fit
- Career/personality inventories
- Counselors visiting various colleges and universities throughout the U.S. to provide firsthand information
Remind Text Alerts
We encourage you and your student to sign up for Remind text message alerts from the M.A. Counseling Department.
You and your student will receive pertinent information about upcoming events, college representative visits and college fairs, as well as important deadlines. If you have students in multiple grades you may want to subscribe to both of their classes as some texts will be grade-level specific. We promise not to overload you!
You do not need to have the Remind app in order to receive texts. Subscribers will receive identical information, no matter their counselor.
Here's how to sign up:
If you are under Mrs. Overton's caseload - last names A-K - here are the class codes:
- 9th Grade: text @23overton to the number 81010
- 10th Grade: text @22overton to the number 81010
- 11th Grade: text @21overton to the number 81010
- 12th Grade: text @20overton to the number 81010
If you are under Mrs. Paton's caseload - last names L-Z - here are the class codes:
- 9th Grade: text @23paton to the number 81010
- 10th Grade: text @22paton to the number 81010
- 11th Grade: text @21paton to the number 81010
- 12th Grade: text @20paton to the number 81010
Any questions? Let us know!
Upcoming Events
- Senior Parent Night - Thursday, August 8 - 6:30-8 PM - North Campus Chapel
- Colleges That Change Lives Fair- Hyatt Regency Minneapolis Saturday, August 17th, 2019 - 10 AM
- 9th Grade Orientation - Tuesday, August 20 - 8:30 AM - 3 PM
- New 10th Grade Orientation - Tuesday, August 20 - 1-2:30 PM
- Financial Aid Night (Junior/Senior Parents) - Thursday, September 19 - 6:30-8 PM - North Campus Chapel
- MISP College Fair at Mounds Park Academy Sunday, September 22, 2019 - 12:30-3 PM
- Nat’l. College Fair - Minneapolis Convention Center - Wednesday, October 2, 2019 9 AM to 12 PM and 5 PM to 8 PM, Thursday, October 3, 2019 9 AM to 12 PM
MISP Fair
We invite and encourage students and parents from the senior, junior and sophomore classes of the six MISP schools to attend the annual MISP College Fair. This event is a valuable opportunity for students in all three grades to connect with college representatives.
This year's MISP Fair will be held at:
Mounds Park Academy
2051 Larpenteur Ave E
St. Paul, MN 55109
on Sunday, September 22, 2019
12:30-3:00 for MISP School Students
Closer to the fair you will be able to click on the following links for important information to help you achieve a valuable fair experience.
- Program Flyer 2019
- Spreadsheet that is sortable by college name, city or state - Registered Schools 2019
CTCL Fair
Saturday, August 17, 2019
10:00 AM
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Nicollet Ballrooms A-D
1300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403
Schedule
This event begins with an enlightening 30-minute presentation on today's college search process, followed immediately by a college fair that lasts for approximately 1.5 hours. Students and families are able to collect information from and speak directly with admission representatives from the colleges and universities that inspired the book Colleges That Change Lives.
Parents/guardians/mentors are invited to learn more about financial aid and financing a college education. A 30-minute presentation will be offered at 10:45 AM and repeated at 11:30 AM.
Registration
CTCL member colleges in attendance:
Agnes Scott College
Allegheny College
Antioch College
Austin College
Beloit College
Birmingham-Southern College
Centre College
Clark University
Cornell College
Denison University
Earlham College
Eckerd College
Emory & Henry College
Evergreen State College, The
Goucher College
Guilford College
Hendrix College
Hillsdale College
Hiram College
Hope College
Juniata College
Kalamazoo College
Knox College
Lawrence University
Marlboro College
McDaniel College
Ohio Wesleyan University
Reed College
Rhodes College
Saint Mary’s College of California
Southwestern University
St. John’s College
St. Olaf College
University of Lynchburg
University of Puget Sound
Ursinus College
Wabash College
Wheaton College [IL]
Whitman College
Willamette University
College of Wooster
About Colleges That Change Lives
ACT/SAT
This year Minnehaha Academy will be hosting the ACT exam on Saturday, February 8, 2020. All other testing dates will be offered at area high schools and can be found on the respective examination websites - act.org and collegeboard.org.
Juniors are encouraged to take the test of their choosing twice, ideally in the spring of their junior year (i.e. February and April test dates).
Seniors are encouraged to take the test of their choosing an additional time in the fall of their senior year (by the end of October) on a case-by-case basis.
We will be offering a practice ACT exam for juniors, as well as test prep courses for the ACT. Information about these offerings will come at a later date. In the mean time, if you are looking for outside prep (for the ACT or SAT), we recommend Breakaway Test Prep.
If you are curious to know the differences between the two exams, this is a worthwhile article: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/act-vs-sat-how-to-decide-which-test-to-take
If there are questions about ACT/SAT testing please contact your student's counselor.
College Rep Visits at M.A.
Over 100 colleges and universities visit Minnehaha each year. This is a great opportunity for students to learn more about colleges of interest, as well as make a face-to-face connection with their admissions counselor who will ultimately be reviewing their application for admission. Students in 10-12th grade are encouraged to attend.
We will send out Remind texts each morning to let students know who is coming to visit. A comprehensive list of visits is also available in Naviance and will be posted in the Counseling Office.
Note: Visits are subject to change. Other visits may be added.
Don't forget to ask for a pass from Mrs. Rahm prior to the college visit!
Supporting Your Student Through the College Application Process
“Many students have healthy attitudes toward applying to colleges, but I’ve met with many more students who have absorbed unrealistic or inaccurate ideas from other people, most often their parents and peers.”
In a recent Independent Ideas blog post, Amy Blackburn, upper school mental health counselor at Phillips Exeter Academy (NH), explains how parents and college counselors can calm student anxieties during the college application process.
Wellness Corner
Isaiah 25:1: O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders; plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
M.A. Counseling Team and Services
WHO WE ARE:
Mike DiNardo, Vice Principal/Director of Counseling
Kristin Overton, College & Guidance Counselor (Last Names A-K) overtonkristin@minnehahaacademy.net
Christine Paton, College & Guidance Counselor (Last Names L-Z) patonchristine@minnehahaacademy.net
Wanda Monroe, Non-Public Counselor
monroewanda@minnehahaacademy.net
Diane Rahm, Counseling Office Assistant, Registrar
rahmdiane@minnehahaacademy.net
WHAT WE DO:
Academic Advising
- Guiding toward an appropriately challenging course load
- Additional support to teachers, parents, and students
Social-Emotional Counseling
- Safe, welcoming and confidential
- Addressing issues around anxiety, depression, and general well-being
- Peer and family relationship challenges
College and Career Readiness
- College fit
- Career/personality inventories
- Counselors visiting various colleges and universities throughout the U.S. to provide firsthand information