The counselor stories below, following on the heels of my previous Stories blog, have a common theme running through them–the power of personal connection. As life continues to speed up, f2f (as our team of developers likes to say) communication still has a valuable and powerful role in all of our lives, particularly those entering adulthood who have never experienced life without a smartphone.
Danica Moss–Steamboat Springs High School
Danica Moss, a college and career counselor at Steamboat Springs High School in Colorado, works with about 200 juniors and 200 seniors, about 80% of whom head to college. While 50% of those students attend college in Colorado, the other half attend colleges around the US. Corsava Cloud has turned out to be a terrific tool to start that important conversation, “what are my options?” and launches their college process and meetings.
Danica first learned about Corsava through the College Essay Guy's podcast. Ethan Sawyer's resources are popular with counselors, and Danica is a big fan. Because she cannot counsel students through the entire college process from scratch, she has to push her students through the process. She has a much better conversation during her meetings after they have completed the card sort and thought about things they may never have considered but are important in building a list and making a final selection.
We all know that engaging parents in a positive and meaningful way early on can benefit our students and subsequently our work, getting everyone on the same page. Danica explained that the most interesting thing she has found is that parents who assume they know their student well are often surprised by their card choices. I see this all the time as well. Parents assume that their expectations are the same as their child's, but they are often surprised. Danica sees Corsava as a great way to build on these conversations with families.
Danica met with her families for a junior college night in December and told them they would be getting an email before the break with a list of things to start thinking about. She includes her custom link to the Corsava card sort available on her account by clicking My Students and the + New Student link. This ties her students' accounts to her counselor account. Danica requires that all of her students complete a card sort before meeting with her in January or February. Last year she made Corsava optional, but after seeing the positive results in her meetings, it is now required to kick off the college process.
Danica's meetings are short, about ten minutes, and she has 400 kids, so she needs something quick and impactful like Corsava Cloud with the card definitions and the automatic report generated. She has never had a student come in and say they don't understand the individual cards because the definitions are provided as they click through each one. Some of her students may occasionally not understand things they have not been exposed to, and the definitions help them do it on their own before they meet.
Danica doesn't have time to do the cards together one on one and finds the online cloud version perfect for large schools, as she can send out the link and get a lot in return at her subsequent meetings. She pulls up their reports during their January and February meetings. Danica knows her students and can ask questions about their choices because she understands how they learn best and suggests they consider their learning style and other criteria besides the standard size, location, and majors to find a good fit. After her meetings, students absolutely want to change some of their card choices, and the report really improves the discussion. Students can edit their choices or complete a new sort at any time on their accounts.
Steamboat Springs HS has 850 students, so classes are not large, and when some of her students go to larger colleges, they are often surprised that the big school they wanted means huge lecture classes that might not work with their learning style. Corsava has helped them identify what matters and is important to their success, taking fit to a whole new level.
Many families are facing the pressure of rising college costs, and when students end up transferring, they feel like a failure and it can be expensive. Danica mentioned that often it is because they didn't do their research ahead of time, so she is excited when kids put more into finding a good fit and are so happy when they return to visit her after graduation.
Danica's final comment really summed things up–Kids aren't naturally self-reflective at this age, and when you point out certain college criteria from the cards, it can help them think more deeply and consider what they are really going to college for.
Renee Ferrerio–The O'Neal School
The O'Neal School is an independent school in North Carolina about an hour from Raleigh. Renee learned about Corsava on the bus during college tours and subsequently purchased the hard-copy cards and Corsava Cloud in September 2017. At first, she used the hard-copy cards, but it became too difficult to track results with back-to-back meetings and she knew the online version would be a better option. I definitely agree!
Renee customized her deck for her school by logging into her account, then clicking on Cards and deleting some she felt might not be as important to her group. Last fall, she emailed an invitation to all of her students requesting that they create Corsava accounts and complete a card sort. A sample email is provided on the Corsava website to streamline the process for counselors. If students didn't actually complete it before her meetings during the winter, then she had them do it with their parents in her office. It only takes her students 10 minutes, and it gives her a great chance to chat with parents while the student is busy considering their college preferences.
Renee reviews the students' sort results by pulling up their report in her account and makes college suggestions based on their preferences. She looks at the colleges students bring in to her first meeting (they all have ideas), then she pulls up their Corsava report and suggests other colleges that fit the student's parameters. For Must Haves, students often say they want to go to a large university but also prefer small classes and access to professors. A discussion follows, and she adjusts their lists accordingly. She likes Corsava as a way to show students other choices they may not have considered.
She then suggests her students provide their geographic preferences on their account. This year she will have her students come back to Corsava in the spring–they will log into their accounts during her biweekly college seminars, add their final college list, and then go through the impression process as an assignment, rating their Must Have and Would Be Nice preferences at all of their colleges, producing a ranking-ordered list.
Renee agreed that often kids have no idea how to start looking for a college. They don't know the parameters, and she finds Corsava is a great tool for starting the process and bringing up things they have never considered.
Make Sure You Hold All the Cards!
Start the year with a card check to make sure you have the Corsava cards you want enabled for your students. If you purchased your cards before the new expansion pack was added, it is possible that the new cards are not appearing. It is a good idea to check your deck periodically if you feel there are cards that are not necessary for your students, or just to change things up a bit.
Simply log in to your Corsava account and click on the Cards tab at the top right side of the page to view all of the cards. The card definitions will appear if you click on an individual card. Finally, if you want to make changes, select Customize Your Deck and click on the card name to either enable or disable it for your students.
