Thursday, March 12, 2020

 

Session A, 10:15-11:15 AM

 

Postsecondary Access and Success for Students with Experience in Foster Care

Parlor A

Audience: Both

Karie Ward, Fostering Success Michigan

Kathleen Hoehne, Michigan Department of Education

Ann Rossi, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

This session will highlight the obstacles faced by youth with experience in foster care in graduating from high school and attending and persisting in college. In Michigan, 40% of youth in foster care graduate from high school in a 4 year cohort, compared to 80% of the general population. Additionally, while 80% of youth in foster care express interest in attending college, only 20% of youth who graduate from high school attend, and only 3-11% earn a college degree. This session will highlight the many resources available to these students, and identify ways professionals can support students through high school and into college. The session will be co-presented by Fostering Success Michigan, The Michigan Department of Education, and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, who will each provide highlights of resources available and best practices in helping students make the connections they need to succeed. 

 

Strategies and Tactics of Small College Recruitment

Parlor B

Audience: Both

Jared Stratz, Olivet College

Small colleges are always searching for ‘best practices’ to drive enrollment initiatives. As students enter the college world, institutions continue to review and evaluate their recruitment techniques. Although great recruitment strategies are subjective and not an exact science, there are opportunities small colleges are implementing to help increase overall interest and drive metrics.

 

This session will identify some successful recruitment strategies and tactics and create a space for idea sharing to explore topics of interest that could benefit the overall recruitment and promotion of small colleges.

 

Class of 2019 Naviance Student Insights 

Parlor C

Audience: College Admissions Counselors

Jason Kirklin, Hobsons

Student behavior as it relates to the college admission process continues to evolve, and higher education leaders need to stay up-to-date to continue to support students throughout the process. In this session, hear from Nikki Matuszek (Hobsons) as they walk through insights and trends specific to  students using Naviance including college search, in-state vs. out-of-state applications, and enrollment behavior.

 

Guiding the path to graduation and beyond - working with rural and underrepresented populations.

Parlor D

Audience: High School Counselors

Cathy Longstreet, Hastings High School

Jason Burghardt, Hastings High School 

 

This session will describe a self-exploration/career exploration elective course that is based upon developmental counseling theory and utilizes the YouScience career platform. Unlike traditional interest surveys, YouScience uses ‘brain games’ to capture real measures of aptitudes, then translates those into real world, high-demand careers.  Students spend the semester analyzing their results by exploring their personal aptitudes- connecting how they relate to everyday life, and determining how they align with recommended career pathways.  By the end of the semester students have researched multiple relevant high-wage/high-demand careers, practiced soft skills, created a resume, filled out a high school four-year academic plan, worked on a budget, and produced a culminating online talent portfolio showcasing their skills, attributes and reflections.

 

Session B, 11:30-12:30

 

On-boarding new staff (and keeping them on board)

Parlor A

Audience: College Admissions Counselors

Amanda Blanchette, University of Michigan

Baptism by fire. Building the plane while flying it. These approaches to onboarding and training new staff can certainly shine light on one’s patience and resilience, but can produce unintended consequences, especially for new professionals. This session is designed to promote the importance of thoughtful and intentional training and onboarding for new staff, as well as highlight ideas for developing professional growth and passion of young professionals in admissions. We will explore effective tools to find balance in teaching the role-specific content of the job, while also building camaraderie and acclimating new staff to the culture of the office. It will encourage you to engage with your new staff well and learn to empower their agency in the field.

 

MI Student Aid - Make College Affordable, Accessible, and Attainable

Parlor B

Audience: Both

Jennifer Maurer, Michigan Department of Treasury- MI Student Aid 

Emily Hurtado-Arboleda, Michigan Department of Treasury- MI Student Aid 

This session will provide college access professionals with information on MI Student Aid resources available, such as: State financial aid programs, navigating the data management system, MiSSG, MI Student Aid Video Library, MI Student Aid Scholarship Search, Social Media, GovDelivery communication, MI Student Aid Customer Care Center, and MI Student Aid Financial Literacy Workshops. Through discussion, college access professionals will share successful strategies, learn about MI Student Aid's new regional approach, and how to implement MI Student Aid services into their work with students. 

 

The Mindful Counselor Puts On Their Own Oxygen Mask First:  Best practices & tools to ensure professional health as you support postsecondary pathways

Parlor C

Audience: High School Counselors

Holly Bennetts, MS, LPC Mercy High School

Eva Dodds, Collegewise Affiliate

Rakiba Mitchell, MA, LPC

Patrick O’Connor, Cranbrook Schools.

Tracey Penick, M.Ed, LLPC

Just as a plane’s cabin crew tells travelers to put on the oxygen mask before helping others, we are here to remind you to tend to your own professional health before assisting those around you. Self care is not selfish, many of us put ourselves last and students first.  This session will discuss how to efficiently and effectively make sure that students realize and act upon post secondary opportunities without sacrificing your professional quality of life.  Attendees will leave with  toolkit filled with resources which support practicing mindfulness and offer shortcuts to sharing and facilitating postsecondary opportunities.

 

What Would They Want You to Know? The CollegeXpress Student Insights Report

Parlor D

Audience: Both

Kelsey Wilson, Carnegie Dartlet

Nothing is more of a moving target than the decision-making process of a high school–aged prospect. Carnegie Dartlet surveyed thousands of college-bound high school students at every stage of the college search journey, inquiring about the factors that influenced them and asking for direct feedback about schools and the recruitment process. In this session, we'll review results from the over 6,400 respondents who took this year’s CollegeXpress user survey. We’ll walk through students' insights and perspectives on everything from how they are searching to what influenced their search and decision-making, as well as the impact of social media and their unfiltered feedback on what they wish schools had done differently.

 

 

Session C, 3:00-4:00

 

Advanced Placement in Michigan: College Credit Policies & How AP Can Help Meet Enrollment Goals

Parlor A

Audience: College Admission Counselors

Marc Geslani, College Board

Each year, nearly three million high school students use Advanced Placement® (AP®) to challenge themselves, explore their interests, and earn college credit, placement, or both.

 

AP can help campus leaders meet a range of institutional and strategic goals throughout the entire enrollment cycle.  This session will introduce a new toolkit to help enrollment leaders effectively incorporate AP not only into the admissions process but throughout the full enrollment cycle. The toolkit includes current research, action steps, and key questions that can drive you and your colleagues toward new and innovative ways of drawing on AP as you engage with students across each phase of your enrollment cycle. 

 

Michigan is funding and discussing exciting opportunities around AP and CLEP for Michigan students which will be discussed. Related to this, the topic of reviewing your college credit and placement policies for AP and CLEP will be discussed, including our research resources and projects underway.

 

Bursting the Bubble: Creating a Healthy College Admissions Culture & Mindset

Parlor B

Audience: High School Counselors

Amanda Miller, Brother Rice High School

"I want a name-brand school." Sigh. We've all heard it. Collaborate with a college counselor who joined a highly competitive, private high school and is working to change the college-admissions-going culture from name chasing to FIT chasing.  Hear strategies to get the students, parents, and other constituents on-board with having a healthy, individual-based process where ALL colleges are in style.  This session will also engage the audience to share best practices within their own schools in an effort to collaborate with each other and burst the bubble that college name equals one's worth.

 

Alsame Presents: How to Make College Education a Reality for Latinx students in Michigan

Parlor C

Audience: Both

Salvador Lopez, Grand Valley State University

Vanessa Reynolds, Wayne State University

Norman Bent, University of Detroit Mercy

Alsame or Advocates for Latino Student Advancement in Michigan Education,  is a non-profit organization that is committed to making college education a reality for Latinx students in Michigan. The Latinx student population is growing but college retention and graduation rates are lower than that of white students. In this session, we will share the challenges with college enrollment and retention of Latinx students in Michigan and we will share specific examples of institutional success in enrolling, retaining, and graduating Latinx students from post-secondary institutions. This session should particularly benefit participants who are interested in identifying and supporting Latinx students while in high school as well as those looking to support students in higher education.

 

Next Level Scholars: Targeted & Data-Driven Support for First Gen Students To & Through College

Parlor D

Audience: Both

Jill Marecki, Detroit Regional Dollars for Scholars

Success in life after high school looks different for every student, which is why Detroit Regional Dollars for Scholars has developed a three-tiered, holistic and data-driven approach to provide targeted resources, experiences and support for students at key intervals throughout high school. This session will cover proven support strategies that increase students’ success, particularly first generation college students and other under-represented populations in higher education. Learn about Detroit Regional Dollars for Scholars and their program, Next Level Scholars, which supports high school students for 3 years through SAT prep, etiquette training, FAFSA and financial literacy workshops, campus visits, scholarships and more. Participants will walk away with ideas for how to build or improve programming using data & research-based strategies such as college matching and SEL experiences. This session will be of interest to high school counselors who may be looking for a new community partner, as well as for college counselors or other attendees  who may be looking for new recruitment and engagement opportunities.

 

 

 

Friday, March 13th

 

Session D, 9:15-10:15

 

Supporting International Students

Parlor A

Audience: Both

Christine Bilfinger, Michigan State University

This will be a discussion based session centered around resources and support for international students studying in the United States, in both high school and college. Many have limits to the activities that they can participate in while they are present in the US-this session will discuss how to find resources and information to support these students both in maintaining their immigration status and in adjusting to the campus community.  This session will include take-aways for staff who work with F-1s.

 

Impacts of Anxiety on Students

Parlor B

Audience: Both

Monica Pitek-Fugedi, Groves High School

A brief overview of what anxiety is, how it is becoming more prevalent in society and on high school and college campuses, how to identify it, and ways to help.

 

Upskill Your College Essay Approach

Parlor C

Audience: Both

Mike Maseda, Prompt

Miranda Keskes, Prompt

Prompt is the nation’s leading provider of admissions essay feedback. In our workshop, we will discuss our approach to providing feedback, giving educators tools to more effectively pinpoint issues with content and structure, and helping students craft compelling essays in less time. We will also cover strategies to reduce time spent on letters of recommendation, identifying traits and experiences that matter most to college admissions readers. Through active participation, skill-sharing, and dynamic instruction, this workshop is intended to empower educators to employ new strategies to save themselves and their students time, and will lead to stronger essays and letters of recommendation.

 

College Search Gets Personal: Scoir provides the first adaptive college search experience

Parlor D

Audience: Both

Gerry McCrory, Scoir, Inc.

Every student is unique, yet college search platforms are generic. What if college search went beyond size, majors, and location to address more granular needs like support services for first-generation students, or those with learning differences or physical disabilities? Scoir’s new adaptive college search experience personalizes content for each student..

 

 

Session E, 10:30-11:30

 

Learn to Do by Doing: How to Bring Careers to Life for High School Students

Parlor A

Audience: High School Counselors

Jen Foldvary, St. Mary Catholic Central

Judith Stahl, Seaholm High School

As high school counselors, we engage in conversations with students about possible career opportunities.  More often than not, their reply is “I’m not sure.  It’s so overwhelming.  I want to make a lot of money”.  As teenagers, their scope is limited unless we provide opportunities to truly explore their interests, personality and skill set and as we know there is so much more to navigating a career selection than money.  Teenagers can only learn so much from reading about career options online or through programs such as Naviance or SCOIR.  They need to experience careers for themselves.  In this session, two counselors (private and public) share how they developed career mentorship programs at their schools.  In both programs, students gain real life experience by shadowing a professional in their area of interest for the day.  We will take you through the steps of creating the program, establishing job sites and working with community leaders, teaching important soft skills, dealing with challenges, and much more!  There will time at the end of the session for sharing ideas and brainstorming.

 

Social Media in Admissions, #Roundtable

Parlor B

Audience: College Admissions Counselors

Katie Crombe, Alma College

As most of us know, communicating with Gen Z can be a challenge, especially when new apps, platforms, and profiles are popping up every day. This #Roundtable will provide a space for professionals who utilize social media in their admissions role to discuss the value of each platform, examine best practices, share tips, tricks, & mistakes, and take away some new perspectives (and hashtags). :)

 

Open to anyone, but targeted at college admissions counselors, this discussion will be led by Katie Crombe, Associate Director of Admissions at Alma College. She has worked in the admissions industry for over five years and coordinated social media in admissions at both the high school and college level.

 

Roadmap to Opportunity: Introducing the Stackable Credentials Approach

Parlor C

Audience: Both

Jamie Jacobs, Michigan College Access Network

Jordan Crandell, Michigan College Access Network

In 2020, the Michigan College Access Network took a leap and launched an effort to change the conversation from college vs. career to college AND career.  Part of that effort was a project internally called “stackable credentials.”  The goal was to create student-facing tools for college advisers and school counselors to utilize in order to clearly communicate to students the connection between various career pathways and the corresponding education credentials and pathways. This session will showcase the videos and information sheets that were developed for “Hot Jobs in Michigan” and highlight the accompanying professional development and communication strategies utilized by MCAN to disseminate best practices and tools for Michigan students.

 

Performing Trauma - Trauma Informed Care & College Essay Writing

Parlor D

Audience: Both

Andrew Grayson, Kalamazoo College

Shannon Milan, Kalamazoo College

Many students are coached to write about their personal tragedies and traumas in their college admission essays, understandable advice that leads to unnecessary re-living of trauma for the student and can cause stress and burnout for application readers. This is especially true for students of color and lower income students. How can we honor these student's experiences, provide Admission Offices the information that they need, and avoid doing harm. Using the Trauma Informed Care model, we'd like to explore ways to change our approach, and give participants tools to run their own trauma informed essay writing workshops..