Guidance Information

COUNSELING AND GUIDANCE PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Vestal High School’s counseling programs offer educational, vocational and personal counseling to all students. Counselors make an effort to meet with each student at various times during each school year. Plus, students are encouraged to initiate their own counseling interviews as the need arises and can schedule appointments in the guidance office during their free time.

 

Highlights of the Grades 9 - 12 guidance program are listed below:

  1. Individual and group conferences are sched­uled to appraise the interests and abilities of students through the use of career educational materials, standardized test results, class performance and extracurricular activities.
  2. Group guidance sessions regarding educational and career informa­tion are planned throughout the high school years. Topics include high school success, course selections for the following year, choosing a college, financial aid, post-high school transitions, testing, college applications, resumes and related information.
  3. The Resource Center with current files of educational and vocational materials is maintained for student use. This includes professional, trade school and college catalogs as well as occupa­tional literature. Computers are available for students and counselors to access career, college, and financial aid data bases. Considerable counseling is provided for stu­dents’ post-high-school education and employment.
  4. Counselors continue to track students and their records throughout high school. During their junior year, small group conferences assist stud­ents in the selection of post-high school educational and vocational programs. Test results and class performance records are used to help the students make wise choices when important decision-mak­ing situations arise.
  5. Another phase of counseling, which is difficult to define, relates to problems of the educational, social and personal adjustment of the student to the educational setting in high school. It is usually the kind of problem that prompts the young person to initiate his/her own counseling interview. Reasons for such self-referrals will vary greatly and are encouraged.

During the junior and senior years, students and parents are given information relating to college selection, admissions tests and deadlines, financial aid and how to apply for college scholarships. The general outline of counseling, which will be available to them during the senior year, is also presented during these orientation sessions.

During the first semester of the school year, many colleges send representatives to visit our school. At these times, all high school students and parents have an opportunity to talk in small groups with representatives from these colleges. Since these conferences are time-consuming, students should be selective in choosing them; otherwise, they may be neglecting their classwork. Parents are cordially invited to be present for these conferences.

Military representatives also visit frequently and are available through individual requests.

Parents and students are kept informed through numerous publications, including periodic newsletters and brochures. Information is also available on this web page and through numerous orientation and informational evening programs. Parents are encouraged to contact the counseling and guidance office at any time.