Sol Rapoport
The Campus Center filled to capacity with people intently listening to instructors lecture. They took their seats, asked questions and took copious notes. Some snuck in chitchat with their neighbors while the speakers looked away.
So began the day for a group of more than 60 visiting counselors from local area high schools.
The counselors hailed from 30 high schools in the San Fernando Valley and were welcomed to Pierce College for High School Counselors’ Day, a campus-wide effort to inform them about programs and services available to their schools’ students at Pierce.
Streaming in from public, private and charter high schools, the counselors were greeted by Pierce President Robert Garber and Joy McCaslin, vice president of Student Services.
During a continental breakfast, a number of deans and department chairs delineated the myriad benefits of attending Pierce for incoming college freshmen.
“This year we have added and extended our services,” said Marco De La Garza, dean of Student Services.
“This is the best avenue we have to communicate the highlights of our wonderful programs.”
The annual event has been taking place for the last 15 years and features different departments each year.
Teri Abrams, a counselor at Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, said that as a new member of her school’s counseling department she was trying to gather as much information as possible to share with her students.
“This event is providing me all the information I need to learn what’s available to my high school students,” she said. “It’s ideal really.”
Jorge Montijo is a ninth-grade counselor at Birmingham High School, but says he is already steering some students in the direction of community college.
“The opportunity for them to advance in courses while still in high school is great,” he said.
Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh, vice president of Academic Affairs, said the March 7 event was an attempt to get students to continue their education past high school.
Presentations were made by department chairs Donna Accardo, English, and Bob Martinez, math, highlighting their respective departments’ accomplishments and recent additions to their curriculum.
The activities were programmed by De La Garza and David Follosco, a dean of Student Services whose area of concentration includes Extended Opportunity Program and Services (EOP&S).
However, contributions were made by everyone from the president to student workers.
Several EOP&S alumni were on-hand to discuss their experiences and how the program helped them transfer to four-year universities.
“Having these students here today brings home exactly what we can do,” said De La Garza.
Pierce deans also led the counselors on a campus tour that highlighted the Village, focusing on the nursing, photojournalism and American Sign Language departments, with presentations from instructors Cindy Herbst, Jill Connelly, Rob O’Neil and Christi Hamilton.
Many counselors lauded the event as an important opportunity to gain information.
“Pierce is the number one school that Taft feeds into,” said Rachel Livingston, the college counselor at Taft High School.
“It’s critical that the counseling staff is aware of these resources so that we can advise students and connect them with a school we know is going to nurture and support them and help them reach their educational goals.”
“It really feels like a partnership,” she said.
Teri Adams, a counselor at Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, said the visit to Pierce prepared her with information for students. (Doreen Clay)