Helping students have a successful experience at Golda Och Academy is the major responsibility of the Student Services staff. Guidance counselors are available throughout the day to meet with students about academic issues, social concerns and/or personal difficulties.
Parents are welcome to arrange appointments with the guidance counselors to discuss student adjustment to school, grades or future plans. Throughout the year the guidance counselors assess each student’s progress to make sure that she/he is working up to her/his potential. The counselor works with the students to develop self advocacy skills and to become productive Jewish learners.
Please contact the appropriate guidance counselors:
Grades 9 & 11: Lori Jaffe
Grades 10 & 12: Elisa Schenker
College Guidance: Denise Kanrich
College and Career Guidance
All High School students are provided with an intensive college and career program. The primary focus is self-understanding and formulating goals and plans consistent with that self-understanding. Students and parents learn about opportunities and expectations through a variety of sources. These include: individual conferences, group work, testing, parent-student meetings, trips to college fairs and college campuses, written material and work-study programs.
The overall goal of our College Guidance Department is to help our students make a successful transition to their post-High School life. Career education is also offered to students in our High School.
The College Guidance Program
The goal of Golda Och’s Academy College Guidance program is to assist each student in discovering and building upon the many options that exist throughout and beyond the college admissions process. Toward this end, we provide a comprehensive college counseling program.
As students move into grade 10 and take the PSAT for the first time, advising continues to focus on academic and activity preparation and planning. In 11th grade students take the PSAT again and begin to meet more frequently in groups to discuss the college process. Some of the topics addressed are preparing for the SAT’s, navigating a college search, common admissions terms and crafting the admissions essay.
Our annual College Night is for seniors, juniors, sophomores and their parents and serves as the official kick-off to the college process for sophomores. Beginning with a keynote address from an admissions professional and moving into panel discussions representing the breadth of schools that interest our students, the evening concludes with individual breakout sessions for families to visit with representatives from each college.
For Juniors, the months from February through May bring about college conferences, where each family attends an individual meeting with the Director of College Guidance to map out a personalized plan for the college search and applications. At this meeting, the college list is developed and next steps are discussed.
At the beginning of senior year, students and parents attend an evening session to review step-by-step guidelines to the application process. Individual advising continues to take place throughout the year. Throughout the process, the emphasis is on the individual.
Visits to the school by college admissions officers take place throughout the fall. Whenever possible, these visits are scheduled during the lunch period so that students can attend without missing class. Seniors who wish to be excused from class to meet with a college representative or to visit colleges must obtain permission from the appropriate teachers and must notify the Director of College Counseling several days in advance.
