School Counseling & College Advising

Counseling Department October 2023 Newsletter

School Counseling

The Counseling program at Damien is concerned with the academic/career, personal/social, and spiritual growth of each student. Emphasis is placed on academic preparation and course scheduling; decision-making; social development; and especially on the college search, selection, and application process. Counseling takes place in a variety of forums: individually, in small groups, in class sections, and in class-level assemblies. Though students are assigned a counselor, they are able to meet with any counselor depending on the situation, their counselor’s availability, or other factors.

Students are encouraged to consult any faculty member with whom they feel personally comfortable as well. If specialized needs arise, students may be referred to an appropriate on- or off-campus specialist.

College Advising

Counselors encourage students and their parents to make appropriate academic decisions that lead to success in high school and post-secondary education. During a student’s time at Damien, counselors introduce the concept of college and career pathways, assess and counsel students about their interests, and help students make connections between their current academic progress and future college plans.

Counselors help students understand the relationship between consistent efforts in school and success in college. Counselors provide expertise to juniors and seniors as they engage in the college search, selection, and application process.

COLLEGE APPLICATION PROCESS

The college search, selection, and application process is one of the most important projects you will complete during high school. It is important to remember the goal of the process is to find the school that is the best fit for your particular academic, social, and personal needs and goals.

There are a lot of elements in the application process, which can make it seem overwhelming at times. With the proper planning and ownership of the process, however, you should have no trouble completing the work necessary to complete your applications successfully.

There are several foundational elements during the process, which the student must strive to own. Filling out applications, keeping your Naviance account up-to-date, and taking the lead in everything. Since the student is the owner of college application process, counselors will expect the student to ask any questions about any portion of the process in person. It is much easier to answer questions if you login to your applications and you and a counselor can address the questions specifically and individually.

The process is best viewed as consisting of three distinct, but ultimately related, parts:

Search: This is the first, investigative step. The purpose of this step is to research schools in search of those that are the best FIT.

Selection: This is the exercise of narrowing-down the schools you have researched into a manageable number of schools to which you have selected to submit applications.

Application: This is the final step in the process, which consists of filling-out applications, writing personal statements and supplements (as necessary), sending test scores, getting teacher recommendations, and paying fees.

Damien's School Code (for SAT, ACT, and college applications) is 052502.

NAVIANCE

The Counseling Department manages most of our college information from Naviance, a "one-stop shop" to which students and parents have access, beginning in the student's freshman year.

You can reach the Naviance (Family Connection) login page here: https://student.naviance.com/damien

Among the items students and parents will find in Naviance are:

Links to the most important websites used during the college search, selection, and application process.
College and scholarship search utilities.
Important college-application-related tools for use in recommendations, school reports, and much more.
Student GPA and testing information.
A student resume builder.

Personal Counseling

From time to time, we recognize that solutions to learning issues are related to factors outside our classrooms. In that regard, we have contracted with Outreach Concern Counseling to provide short-term review to help students deal with persona, behavioral, and/or family problems that interfere with student learning or social progress. Parents can refer their son for an appointment with one of the counselors, and students can also self-refer to be seen.

There are two ways a parent can contact the counselors:

TELEPHONE

Call the Outreach Concern office at (909) 596-1946 ext. 290.

EMAIL

Send an email to [email protected]
In the subject line, please write: REFERRAL
Please refrain from putting the student's name in the subject line, in order to maintain student privacy.
In the body of the email, provide the name of the student and the reason(s) for the referral.
The Outreach Concern counselor will follow up by telephone call or in person.

For College Representatives

College representatives who wish to schedule a visit to Damien are welcome to contact Ms. Rutter, Counseling and College Assistant, via email or phone call in order to schedule an appointment to visit the campus.

Representative visits are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.