When young people think of the future, recent history shows that they see grades one through twelve and then college. They get a job, a home away from their parents and possibly a spouse. The trick is getting there. A person has to know how to fill the requirements for colleges and their applications.

The students at SHS are able to go to their counselors and teachers for college help. However, even though the students have these resources, it doesn’t meant that they use them to their advantage. SHS teachers and counselors can only do so much for the students that come to them.

“Rarely in life are you going to need to know the steps of mitosis, but you need to know how to follow directions,” says SHS biology teacher Rachel Pearce. She teaches students how to do an assignment when it’s assigned and how to do things on a person’s own. Pearce gives her students more independent projects and homework. A big way that Pearce helps her students prepare for college is teaching them to believe in themselves and to have faith that they can do it.

SHS counselor Brianna Underwood helps students prepare for college in multiple ways. She helps students sign up for the courses that will help them get to where they want to be.

“We’re always reminding them of what it is that they want to do outside of high school[…] the more experiences that we have, the more people we come in contact with, our minds change and our interests change,” says Underwood.  The school has started to host a career fair, hoping that students will get exposure to new jobs that they hadn’t considered before. The counselors encourage students to job shadow and do internships so that they know what to expect and make the process from high school to college and work after college easier.