What’s up with our high school seniors during COVID-19

The kids are all right—but have a lot on their minds

By Laura Longley

Ever since their proms and graduation ceremonies were canceled due to COVID-19, we haven’t heard much about how Loudoun County’s high school seniors are doing. Wanting to find out, Laura Longley talked with Geri Fiore, Woodgrove High School’s director of counseling. Here’s what she shared with us about seniors’ anxieties, opportunities, college plans, and challenges in a very challenging year.

Communications

The good news is that students are comfortable communicating with counselors in the virtual world. For us, I think the biggest obstacle is just being disconnected from the students. In a normal year, every day we’d have so many interactions with students. They might pop in the counseling office first thing in the day, or we’d have little sidebar conversations in the hall. That’s probably the biggest thing we’re missing. These informal interactions are often the ways we get to the core of what’s bugging them.

Access to Technology

We worry about families that don’t have good access. So we’re trying to be creative and work with families one on one. We’ve opened the library here at Woodgrove as an internet café; we’re the western site in Loudoun County that is providing this service. Typically, teachers are reaching out to us. This summer we also got our social worker, athletic directors, and more counselors involved in helping families link up with hot spots. And if students can’t come to our internet café, LCPS transportation will them up and bring them here. We’ll also print out materials and drive paper packets to families. We want to meet them where they are and meet their need.

Anxieties

Scheduling SAT tests—This was a major worry. To alleviate those concerns, we had one day in September, another in October for testing, which allowed us to serve 250 students.

What path to take: college, working, internship, gap year? —In their senior surveys this year, we have seen more students planning for a gap year. The percentage of students planning for two-year programs also has gone up. Some students are focusing on a path that takes them directly to a career. For example, they might choose to spend a year or two at Monroe Advanced Technical Academy. (Monroe offers 27 career pathways. Among them are firefighter, veterinary science, auto collision repair, administration of justice technology, biomedical technology, and television production.) 

Partnering with parents—When you’re working with a student about their next step, you want their family to know that we’re in a partnership: the student, the family, the school. And we always keep in mind that no student or family is alike economically or culturally. 

Money

Parents—Even with COVID and possible loss of income, parents don’t seem to have changed their focus much. Most parents still see a four-year college education as leading to a more stable future for their child. But they also realize they might have to adjust their plans and see their child stay closer to home or combine studies and work to help with finances. Maybe the student will think about going to George Mason University instead of an out of state school.

Students—As you might imagine, money is a major stressor for the student. Most students do not want to come out with $100,000 in loans. We might help them look into programs that will let them go right into a career when they graduate. That way they’ll have the income to pay back the loans. We may encourage them to look in state, but if the in-state schools don’t have the program that meets their needs, we might look into the Academic Common Market. [The Academic Common Market is a tuition-savings program in 15 states for college students who may want to pursue degrees that are not offered by their in-state institutions. Students can enroll in out-of-state institutions that offer their degree program and pay the institution’s in-state tuition rates.]

Even before deciding on their path forward, we urge all students to fill out the FAFSA–Free Application for Federal Student Aid. We help them complete that application and then help them begin applying for scholarships. For the kids facing financial need, we have systems in place, including waivers for applications. It helps that we have good contact with NOVA (Northern Virginia Community College).

We also encourage students and parents not to rule out private schools. Northern Virginia students are considered very desirable by colleges, and I’ve seen many times where the scholarships a student may obtain will make a private school as affordable as a public one. That’s why it’s important that parents are engaged in the college application process. 

Applications

We’re processing more applications earlier this year. That’s a major hurdle because it’s so important for a counselor to have relationships with students. The connections are different this year. What we’ve tried to do over the past few months is keep communication lines open with students. We just want students to know they will have counselors walking alongside them and following up with them. We let them know, “Here’s the process, here’s how we can help you.” 

College Visits

This year it’s not easy to visit schools, but we encourage visits. I don’t think there’s any substitute for getting information firsthand. You’d never buy a car without a test drive or a house without a walk-through. With a college, you want to make sure it’s an environment where you can flourish. In the past, usually during spring break of your junior year, you’d visit schools. But this year universities have had to do thing differently. Unfortunately, in many cases, students have to visit schools virtually. 

Moving Forward

Students and their parents are worried about safety at college, remote or hybrid classes, living arrangements, social life.  So, we’re encouraging students to do backup plans. We urge them to plan for the best but have a Plan B in place.

What more can we do to help them move forward? Last year at this time students wanted help with organization, time management skills, and healthy activities. This year it’s managing stress. We’re creating lessons and working with students on that and also on developing healthy relationships.

Our goal is to develop resilience in them. We want them to learn how to take a little control back, focus on where they want to be in five years, and think about paths for getting there.

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