Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/96440
It is an afternoon in mid-August, and about three dozen seniors have returned to Latin for a college essay writing workshop. Although the students are giddy from reconnecting with classmates after a long summer, the fact that the optional workshop is over-booked and students are eager to spend the last precious hours of vacation in a computer lab attests to how seriously they are taking what is ahead. A few weeks later, a group of seniors and their parents are gathered at a college counseling event to arm themselves for the coming months. Paperwork, essays, college visits, anxiety, agonizing life decisions, emotional highs and lows are all part of what students will be juggling along with busy senior schedules and challenging course loads. ���We want our students to be able to have a full high school life without always thinking about how it will influence their college prospects.��� ��� Director of College Counseling Liz Pleshette A Balancing Act ��� And so Elizabeth Pleshette, Latin���s director of College Counseling, and Lauren Lieberman, associate director, begin the annual balancing act of the practical ��� making sure students and parents stay on task ��� and the emotional ��� helping families cope during what may be one of the most stressful times in any teenager���s life. ���Our goal and one of our biggest challenges is to get students and parents to understand that the college process is only one small part of the high school experience,��� says Pleshette. ���Although Lauren and I live and breathe college admissions, we want our students to be able to have a full high school life without always thinking about how it will influence their college prospects.��� This is not easy at a time when families often feel uncertain about college opportunities. For many, cost is increasingly becoming a consideration. For others, a changing landscape ��� where certain schools are becoming more inaccessible and other less known institutions are developing top notch programming ��� fosters anxiety. Therefore, while Pleshette and Lieberman spend a lot of time helping kids fill out their forms and craft their essays, keep track of testing dates and make sure they are organized and abide by deadlines, they also make it a point to get to know their students on a Director of College Counseling Liz Pleshette Graduates of the Class of 2010 were accepted to the following schools. Schools in red have at least one student attending. ��� Allegheny College | American University | Arizona State | Art Institute of Chicago | Bates College | Bellarmine University | Belmont University | Beloit College | Bennington College | Boston College | Boston University (2) | Bowdoin College | Bradley University | Brandeis University | Brown University | Bryn Mawr College (2) | Bucknell University | Butler University (2) | CalTech | Carleton College | Carnegie Mellon | Carthage College | Case Western Reserve University | College of Charleston | Chatham University | Claremont McKenna College | Coe College | Colby College (2) | The College of Wooster | 26 Latin Magazine