OHS has taken an extra step to prepare students for their futures.

This year Mr. Stephen King, chairperson of the guidance department, and the rest of the guidance staff are having conferences with all four grade levels. Although they have been very successful in regards to their students being accepted to the right college for them, the staff is always looking for ways to improve. They welcomed students to come into the office and talk to them. However, many students never came.

Conferences are now mandatory for underclassmen, and sign-ups for upperclassmen are no longer on a voluntary basis. Though he hopes to see every student, King and the other counselors feel it is more efficient to talk to each student individually about their futures rather than talking to a group.

“It’s more work for us, but it is beneficial to our students as well as us,” King said.

He also feels that talking to each student individually helps build a relationship between students and counselors and will lead to more conversations and meetings with the individual student, and help them have a better understanding of their future.

The meetings are going to connect with each other. Each year, some of the same concepts will be discussed. Such as credits, GPA, occupations, and colleges.

Freshmen are given a four year plan and talk about the classes they need to take in order to graduate high school. They also talk about the occupations, degrees, and schools they are considering. They will also talk about the education required for the occupations they are considering.

Sophomores talk about their transcript and credits earned as well as their GPA. Just as they did as a freshman, they will talk about the occupations they are considering and school required for that occupation.

Juniors talk about their transcript, GPA, and credits as well as the occupation they are considering. At this point the counselors get more involved with the occupation considered and talk about the outlook of the job, the amount of jobs that will be open in that field, salary, etc.  

Seniors talk about their plans for college and occupations being considered. They focus more on applying for college and sending transcripts to the college desired. They are also having group meetings about the students transcripts, the requirements for 2-year and 4-year colleges, applying for those colleges, sending applications, scholarships, financial aid, and college fairs.

The guidance counselors want the students of OHS to have time to think about their futures and plan what they want to do. Mr. King said it is better to talk to the students as freshmen and sophomores because waiting until they are seniors to talk about their plans causes more stress for the students.