Senior credit checks just ended, but on Monday, school counselors began pulling juniors out of class to commence their checks. These will take place during students’ U.S. History classes throughout the next month and into the first week of December.
“It’s a busy month for us,” school counselor Michelle Cortes said. “For the entire month of September, we met with every senior one on one, which we love, but it’s exhausting. It’s a good conversation to have.”
During each credit check, students sit down with their counselor and review the graduation requirements that they have completed, and the ones that they will need to fill in the future. For seniors, this is one of the last chances to ensure that they are on track to graduate, but for juniors, it can act as a guide for what courses they will need to enroll in next year.
Students and counselors go over all of their graduation requirements, filling out a credit check form as they do. Students also receive a paper with a few guiding instructions for whatever path they choose after high school.
“It’s always a good thing to start thinking about next steps,” Cortes said. “‘Do I want to go to school? Do I want to go to the military? Do I want to work?’ Just stuff to help us in that conversation. Because depending on the path that they’re thinking about now, that’s kind of how we gear our conversation in terms of life after Hagerty.”
The counselors have also prepared a presentation to give before they individually speak with each student, involving a video (which they updated this year) and time to answer questions.
“We put together a video—one for the juniors, one for the seniors—and it’s just what we feel we want to share with them in terms of graduation requirements and the supports that are available depending on what the student wants to do,” Cortes said. “Whether they want to go to a college, whether they want to go to a vocational school, [or the] military, just all the options that they have available to them. So it’s a mixture of what you need to get out of here at Hagerty and graduate, and next steps depending on the path that you want to take.”
If students are wondering about opportunities for scholarships and volunteer hours (some of the most frequent topics brought up during these), they can find information on the Student Services section of the school website, or talk to Dr. Andrea Fuhrer in the College and Career Room for more specific questions.
If a student misses their credit check or does not have the class during which they would take place, they can email their counselor or schedule an appointment. Counselors try to contact any students who they did not see, and on a regular day, students can walk into their counselor’s office, but scheduling an appointment is sometimes more efficient.
“I set up an appointment, and then I walked over to [my counselor’s] office, and we had a little conversation,” senior Kat Arnott said. “She looked over my grades, and everything was fine. I just wanted to have a set time where I would go see her. I do have some classes virtual[ly], but I thought it would be better to do it that way instead of just walking to the office.”
In order for the school counselors to plan the credit checks, they first create a schedule of all the junior social studies courses. Then, as they go through each class, they write down notes regarding what requirements each student still needs to fulfill or any significant information about them. Occasionally, students forget about their P.E. or world language requirements, which can cause problems and lead to them needing to take the relevant classes virtually.
In order to best prepare and make the entire process go smoothly, students can check Skyward beforehand to see what requirements they have left.
