guidance_feature

Counseling Program

The SCA School Counseling Program supports the mission of Shalom Christian Academy to assist parents in providing a quality education from a Biblical perspective with an Anabaptist emphasis. As a school Shalom strives to train young people to be equipped for a useful life under the authority of Scriptures and the Lordship of Christ.

Program Objectives:

  • To disciple students, teaching them to obey what Christ taught.
  • To lead students into right relationships with God and others.
  • To help students to accept themselves and others the way God made them.
  • To challenge the students to fully realize God-given potential.
  • To teach wise stewardship of time, possessions, and talents.
  • To encourage the development of good study habits and life-long learning.

 

Planning

College Night is held the last Thursday of September. A college admissions counselor spends an evening with parents and students explaining the college selection and admissions process and financial aid.

The school counselor meets with each senior in the fall of their senior year to discuss post-high school plans. Parents are welcome to be a part of these meetings. Please contact the office if you would like to be a part of the meeting.

The school counselor meets with each junior in the spring of their junior year to review course selections, credits necessary for graduation, and post-high school plans. The school counselor is available to assist other students with course selection on an individual and group basis.

Every other year, the high school participates in Career Day, an exciting day where many different people from the community share their career experience. For Career Day during the 2010-2011 school year, we hosted 20+ career presenters with our keynote address given by Cedric Roth, Conference Youth Minister for Franklin Mennonite Conference.  Career Day was held on Tuesday, February 8, 2011.

On the odd years, juniors and seniors participate in Shadow Day. Shadow Day is an opportunity for students to experience first hand a career in which they are interested. For Shadow Day during the 2011-2012 school year, we had almost 50 juniors and seniors placed with a wide variety of professionals, including a mortician, a doctor, accountants, engineers, physical therapists,  nurses, mechanics,  farmers, and much more!

Sophomores are encouraged to take the PLAN test in the fall. The PLAN test is an interest and career inventory from the producers of the ACT. The school counselor discusses the results with the students individually.

Juniors are encouraged to take the PSAT as preparation for SAT. PSAT results are used to qualify students for the National Merit Scholarship Program. The counselor meets with the students individually to review their PSAT results.

 

Counseling

Individual Counseling: The counselor is available to talk to students about their academic, social, spiritual, and personal concerns as requested. Appointments can be made through the office, by e-mailing the counselor, or by direct request.

Group Counseling: Sometimes students benefit from being able to talk about a shared issue of concern in a group setting. Possible group topics would include dealing with death or divorce, anger management, study skills, or transition to college.

 

Learning

Located outside the high school teachers’ lounge, the guidance bulletin board contains information regarding college visits, missions opportunities, SAT dates, and more!

There are various pamphlets, magazines, and books (several of which are highlighted below) available on the display case in the library to the right of the school counselor’s office. If there is more than one copy of something, feel free to take an extra copy.

The school counselor distributes 5-6 handouts (October ’11, November 11, December ’11, January ’12, February ’11, March ’11) of available local scholarships to seniors. The handout lists scholarship criteria, deadlines, and web addresses for more information.

The school counseling office produces a monthly newsletter (September ’11, October ’11, November ’11, December ’11, January ’11, February ’11, March ’11, April ’11, May ’11 ). It is included with the parent newsletter the first Thursday of each month. Also check out the Surfing link for websites described in the newsletter.

There are a number of resources available in the Shalom library that can help make the college search and admissions process a little easier. Students and parents can reference these books in the library. If you would like to use one of these books overnight, please let Mr. Shank know first.

  • The Peterson’s Guide to 4 Year Colleges contains over 3000 pages filled with detailed descriptions of more than 1000 colleges. There are quick-reference indexes that group schools by name, location, cost, major and entrance requirements.
  • The College Application Essay by Sarah McGinty contains guidelines for writing unique essays plus 50 sample essay questions.
  • Peterson’s Christian College’s & Universities allows you to search by major, state, athletics, special programs, major, and denomination.
  • Campus Visits and College Interviews by Zola Schneider includes such topics as why it matters so much to see a college in person, when to visit, best uses of the Web, and questions for parents to ask plus 14 checklists.
  • The Occupational Outlook Handbook contains descriptions of hundreds of occupations plus projections regarding what jobs will be in demand. There are dozens of college catalogues organized alphabetically.

 

Surfing

  • COMPREHENSIVE Sites

  • www.college.gov (For a customizable roadmap/timeline to guide you from high school to college, click on “What To Do” and then click on “Your College Roadmap”
  • www.students.gov
  • www.educationplanner.com (For two SAT practice tests with explanations of correct answers go to this website, under “Preparing” click on “Strategies for scoring on the SAT and the ACT.” Under “SAT” click on “Practice Test PDF.”

 

Dreaming

The SCA guidance program is growing and developing. The school counselor relies on a Guidance Advisory Council that meets 3 times a year to provide input and help chart the direction of the SCA guidance program.  Your input is also welcomed. Some of the program components that we are planning to add in the near future include the following:

  • A Biblical, developmental k-12 guidance curriculum.
  • Guidance lessons in each elementary classroom on a semester basis.
  • Personality, gifts, and learning style testing at the middle school level.