12th Annual Counselor Open House
Published: 2013-03-06Category: General Announcements
Eastern Shore Community College’s Counselor Open House, was held at the college’s Workforce Development Center Friday, February 15. This event, led by Jody Baggett, ESCC’s lead counselor, is hosted annually by the college’s Student Services Department. The Shore’s secondary school counselors and occasionally their supervisors are invited to spend the better part of the day learning and networking to ensure their students are able to take full advantage of the college’s offerings.
Following a warm and informative welcome by college president Dr. Linda Thomas-Glover, the full agenda included presentations by Robin Rich-Coates, science faculty member and Assistant to the Vice-President of Academics and Student Affairs; Bryan Smith, Dean of Student Services; Jody Baggett, Lead Counselor; Lisa Brasch, Testing Assistant; Mark Flanders, Career Counselor and Veterans Officer; and Dr. James Ahern, Vice-President of Academics and Student Affairs.
Topics covered included items of continued interest among secondary counselors and their students such as: course pre-requisites, programs of study, financial aid, the college’s registered nursing program, placement testing, dual enrollment and transfer.
Exciting and new this year, the Open House included a presentation on the full implementation of the Chancellor’s Developmental Education Re-Design as well as a roundtable workshop on the recent House Bill 1184. In brief, the house bill mandates that public secondary systems in Virginia and their community college partners develop a pathway by which exceptional students may attain either a one-year college certificate in general education or an associate degree concurrent with their high school graduation.
ESCC’s Counselor Open House drew secondary counselors from Arcadia High School, Broadwater Academy, Chincoteague High School, Nandua High School, and Northampton High School. Eddie Lawrence, Accomack County Schools Secondary School Coordinator, was also in attendance.
This informative event was highly rated by the counselors who appreciated the information to share with their students as well as the work session which they deemed as “productive”. They agreed that the proposed templates for student attainment of the General Education Certificate and Associate Degree were “doable” and “advantageous”. Plans to comply with the HB 1184 mandates will be formalized at the state-level in April 2013, with these opportunities becoming available to students as early as fall 2014.
