Professional School Counselors, as your academic year winds down, may we suggest a summer to-do list for you?

My good friend Rachael stared at me in bewilderment and said, "You actually make the things you pin?"
"Of course. Isn't that the idea? I've never understood why people would take the time to plan for a project and then not complete it."

With warmer temperatures finally giving us a refreshing reminder of summer, it is exciting to get back outside and brainstorm about fun activities to do during this time of year. Here in Iowa, we are very fortunate to have a broad variety of natural recreation spaces, outdoor experiences, and organized events to partake in throughout the warmer months. All across our state are a variety of unique opportunities to enjoy. I hope this article gives you some fun reminders or new ideas!  

1) Let them see you have fun undefined.
When was the last time your staff saw you in blue jeans? Telling corny jokes? Laughing at said jokes? Maybe while sipping a cocktail? Let them know you’re just like them in many regards and have fun with your team (however suits your style) at the MIDWest Spring Conference.

Be a part of history!

Over 40 students attended L.E.A.P. 2018 at the Mount Mercy University Graduate Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This annual leadership conference for underrepresented and first-generation freshmen, sophomores, and juniors in Iowa, is organized by the Iowa ACAC Inclusion, Access, and Success Committee. This year’s participants included students from Iowa City, Postville, Muscatine, West Liberty, and Columbus Junction. 

May 20-22, 2018--Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark#5  -  Attend a plethora of sessions from 5 states covering a wide variety of topics!

It's hard to believe that National College Decision Day is only a couple of short weeks away. All of the hard work of high school counseling staff and admissions professionals will soon come to fruition as we see the college classes of 2022 come together. As an admissions professional, I know that I am definitely excited to see what this next class will bring to our campuses!  

In the last several months, the Iowa ACAC blog has featured a three-part series titled "Things I Wish You Knew."  This series has focused on survey responses received from admissions counselors, school counselors, upper level admissions staff, recent college admits and their parents to offer a new perspective into their lives, which will hopefully impact the way you interact with these individuals. 

Any parent will tell you that balancing work and family can be quite the juggling act.  While I, in no way, profess to being an expert in keeping all the balls in the air, here are a few things I’ve learned over the past 16 years of working in admissions and raising two kids.

The Iowa ACAC Inclusion, Access, and Success Committee is excited to host the third annual L.E.A.P. Conference on Wednesday, April 4, 2018!

"May 1 is so ingrained in me, I can’t imagine a world without it."

Staying fit, healthy, and active, while traveling for work, is always difficult. As we kick off spring travel season, here are some quick tips to help you stay healthy while on the road. 

Our Iowa ACAC blog series "Things I Wish You Knew" focuses on survey responses received from admissions counselors, school counselors, upper level admissions staff, recent college admits and their parents to offer a new perspective into their lives, which will hopefully impact the way you interact with these individuals. Watch for a survey in the future in your Inbox!

Visiting universities, searching their websites, and meeting faculty, staff, and students are all very important steps in the college decision process. When proceeding with these steps, it is important for prospective students and their families to optimize the time they have on each campus.
One way to do that, is to ask questions to help make the decision easier! Here are 5 questions that each student should ask as they go through the big college decision process:

As we are all very familiar, during the spring we often see two different types of students wanting to visit campus:  admitted students making their college decisions and prospective juniors starting to think about college. This can be a confusing time for many, not knowing which visits are offered for whom, which would be the best fit, and, of course, the May 1 college decision deadline swiftly approaching.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), has been a huge help to the immigrant population that arrived here as children. After the entire population was placed on a roller-coaster of having DACA rescinded and reinstated, we are not yet sure what the future holds. As a recipient myself, and undocumented before this, I was always afraid of disclosing my immigration status. Although DACA recipients cannot apply for any federal aid, there are many ways that institutions can offer help. Here is what we recommend for DACA recipients:

School counselors are absolutely essential in high schools across the state. In many school districts, school counselors are responsible for scheduling students’ classes, motivating students who are struggling, providing academic success resources, responding to social-emotional concerns, assisting students in crisis, teaching college and career prep classes, organizing  admission visits, helping students with ACT prep and college applications, answering questions about financial aid, and generally keeping a school and its students in motion.  

How?  With a FREE one-year High School Memberships to school counselors who are not currently Iowa ACAC members.

There has been a lot of attention on helping first generation students navigate the college search process, and rightfully so! There is confusion for most high school juniors and seniors, let alone those who haven’t had anyone in their family navigate the process before. So let’s start there. When we talk about first generation students, we are referring to students whose parents have not obtained their four-year college degree. Here is what we recommend when working with this student population: