Summer 2023 will be here before you know it, and as a parent of a teen – you're probably wondering what high schoolers should/could be doing. In addition to personal growth, doing something besides sleeping and going on TikTok during the summer months (when there is more free time) can be helpful for students when starting to build out their college applications.
Collegewise counselors are sharing their tips on how students can maximize their summer break, make an impact, and explore their passions in preparation for college.
Your Speakers:
Anita Gajula has spent her entire career in service of students—as a student affairs professional at Macalester, as an academic advisor at U Chicago, as a College Admissions Advisor both in her own practice and in other firms, and now as a Collegewise counselor. She’s helped hundreds of students through the college admissions process, whether it be through test prep, college application management, or essay support.
Joe Korfmacher For the last nine years, Joe has been advising families through the college process—whether it was via his leadership at Xavier High School in New York as the director of the college counseling program; his tenure as a guidance and college counselor at St. Peter’s Prep; or through his own private college counseling firm, JDK College Consulting. And Joe truly cares about giving his students a solid path to succeed: at Xavier, he was instrumental in rebuilding the college group guidance structure and curriculum and creating an intensive application summer program for rising seniors.
Nicole Pilar graduated from Pitzer College in Claremont, CA where she also worked as an outreach coordinator for the Claremont Colleges Debate Union, overseeing hundreds of tournaments across the LA metro area and tabulating middle and high school national championships. She took her love of debate with her to Bulgaria on a Fulbright Scholarship. For two years, she taught English, explored Europe, and counselled many of her 400 students through the college application process to universities in Bulgaria, the UK, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and the US. Her students have gone on to attend, among others, Purdue, UCLA, University of Washington, SMU, Wake Forest, Princeton University, and the University of Southern California.
