• Welcome to The Colgan Counselor 2021

• What Is a School Counselor, Anyways?

• "Be the 1 to" Campaign

• Meet the New Counselors: Ms. Colassard & Ms. Noble

• Student Spotlight: Sharks for a Year - Exchange Students

• Upcoming Events in Counseling

• College & Career Corner

Welcome - we're glad you're reading this month's edition of The Colgan Counselor, the official newsletter of the Charles J. Colgan Sr. High School Counseling Department. Throughout the year, this will be a space for information about socio-emotional and mental health, college and career advice, important upcoming events, and more. We hope that you enjoy reading, and we want this newsletter to be helpful for YOU - so if you have any suggestions for topics you would like to hear more about, please come to the School Counseling office or email your school counselor!

Thank you for reading, and as always, go sharks!

At Colgan High School, your school counselor is a resource for you in a variety of ways, including the following:

1. Each school counselor is trained to help students with socio-emotional issues. While we don't provide long-term therapy, we provide a space where students will not be judged and where they will be heard through individual and small group counseling.
   
   
2. Each school counselor is also trained to help you explore your options for when you graduate, whether you want to go to college, straight into the workforce, or anything in between. We want to help you reach your goals.
   
   
3. We are in classrooms from time to time teaching lessons on socio-emotional/mental health and college/career options.
   
   
4. We also work with students (and their parents/guardians) on developing their schedule, adjusting to life changes, finding success in their classes, interpreting test scores and transcripts, and some other issues as they arise.
   

Know that we are here for you, we support you, and we want to get to know you throughout your high school career. Please drop by the Counseling Office (located next to the main office, in the hallway between Commons A and the Library) - we're looking forward to working with you.

On September 28, Colgan Counselors visited each lunch and asked students to participate in the "Be the 1 To" Campaign. Students could write a positive message or a connection they are thankful for at Colgan on a post-it, and we received almost 400 anonymous post-its! The post-its will be displayed in the Commons sometime this month (October).

This year, we have Ms. Colassard and Ms. Noble joining the Colgan Counseling team, and here are a few fun facts about each of them.

Ms. Colassard:

1. Pasta is my favorite meal (I love to cook). 🍝

2. I am a hardcore Washington sports fan (I love ALL sports). 🏈

3. I am a plant mom and love to garden. 👩‍🌾

Ms. Noble:

1. I am a Dallas Cowboys fan.🏈

2. My favorite season is Fall. 🍂

3. I enjoy meeting new people.😊

Colgan Counseling would like to welcome our six International Exchange Students.

Highlights of their 1st meeting with Dr. Healey can be found at: exchange.colganhs.com

Application is open (until Oct. 27)! A Canvas message to the Class of 2023 was sent with the application attached. The application will also be posted in our Colgan Counseling Canvas Course. Let Mrs. Flaherty know if you have questions! Her email is: flaheree@pwcs.edu

Criteria:

1. Be a member of the Junior Class (Senior Class 2023).

2. Have a cumulative 3.0 grade point average at the end of their Sophomore year. Students can check their GPA in StudentVue under Course History.

3. Have held TWO LEADERSHIP ROLES to which they were chosen by their peers or an adult leader within the past two years in school, religious or community sponsored organizations.

• Counselors will be stopping by 9th Grade World History I classrooms to deliver a lesson on the "Transition to High School" (Through Oct. 15). Students will also learn how to log into Naviance to complete an assessment to understand different learning styles.

• Counselors will be visiting 10th Grade Health and PE II classrooms to deliver a lesson on "Stress Management" (Through Oct. 28).

The Academic Award Celebration will be held on October 27th from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. Eligible families were contacted by mail and are asked to RSVP on the associated google form. Please reach out to your counselor for any questions.

Oct. 25-29. Counselors will be holding activities throughout the lunch shifts to engage with students around the topics of Wellness, Bully Prevention, & Self-Care.

We will observe Red Ribbon Week October 23 - 31. The 2021 Red Ribbon theme is "Drug Free Looks Like Me." More information to follow.

In this portion of the newsletter, you'll find a list of information with the major upcoming college and career events, as compiled by Dr. Byrd (our College and Career Counselor)!

Here are some upcoming events:

• PWCS Virtual Financial Aid Night: Oct. 7
  
  
• Touch Base Conferences Oct. 11

• PSAT: Oct. 13 (during school day)

• HBCU Virtual College Fair: Oct. 16
  
  
• PWCS College Fair @ Colgan High School: Oct. 19
  
  

• ASVAB @ Colgan High School: Nov. 9 (during school day)
  
  
• FAFSA Hands-On Help Night: Nov. 9

• CFPA College Night: Nov. 16

Please visit the College and Career Planning page for up-to-date information. This link is updated regularly by PWCS.

During the fall, representatives from various colleges and universities will come to Colgan HS, some in person and some virtually through Zoom to share with Juniors and Seniors about the interesting aspects of their college or university. These visits typically last 30-45 minutes. To register for a visit:

• Log in to your Naviance Student account
• Scroll to the bottom of the screen and you will see a list of college visits scheduled in the What's New box
• Click on 'Show More' and it will list all the colleges scheduled
• View 'more info' for the college visits you are interested in
  
  
• For a virtual visit, Naviance will send you a zoom link to give you access to the session 15 minutes prior to the event

• For an in person visit, please show your teacher the registration on your device at the beginning of class. This will be your pass (and reminder) to the visit.

To start the school year, the Colgan School Counseling Department has worked on various programs to support our students. If you weren't able to attend these events or would like more information about their subject matter, please check out the information below:

• "A Sea of Information" Handout for the Class of 2022 is on Colgan Counseling Canvas Page
  

• Seniors received a copy of their transcript & Credit Check to take home.

• Naviance Instructional Videos are on the Colgan Counseling Canvas Page

• Class of 2022 Family Information Night Video

• Questions about the Senior Internship Experience(intern.colganhs.com)? Email Mrs. Riddle at: Riddlek@pwcs.edu or Mrs. Handville at Handvicr@pwcs.edu

• If you are interested in the Healthy Community, Healthy Youth (HCHY) club at Colgan, please email Mrs. Cynthia Brown for information. Her email is: Browncx@pwcs.edu

Ms. Ashley Colassard: A-BL (colassas@pwcs.edu)

Mr. Jean Agosto: BO-C (agostojg@pwcs.edu)

Mrs. Laura Latimer: D-F (latimele@pwcs.edu)

*Mrs. Latimer's students will temporarily be working with Mrs. Carol Fitzwater (fitzwaca@pwcs.edu)

Mrs. Levette Hull: G-H (hulllj@pwcs.edu)

Mrs. Yanet Boyd: I-L (boydyx@pwcs.edu)

Ms. Kathleen An: M (anks@pwcs.edu)

Mrs. Stephanie Swift: N-RI (swiftsa@pwcs.edu)

Ms. Tiana Noble: RO-S (nobletn@pwcs.edu)

Mrs. Erin Flaherty: T-Z (flaheree@pwcs.edu)

Dr. Leah Byrd: College & Career Counselor (byrdla@pwcs.edu)

Mrs. Claire Handville: Director ofSchool Counseling (handvicr@pwcs.edu)

Stay tuned for more updates in our November issue, which will be published around this time next month! We will see you around, and until then...

GO SHARKS!