College counselors Erin Stein and Heather Henning were assisted by Drake University representative Evan Favreau to introduce juniors to the college planning process from 10:20 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. Thursday morning, Nov. 14 in the library.

“I really enjoyed the interactive activities,” junior Emma Grojean said. “It was also cool to learn more about the common myths from the Drake Rep.”

Stein kicked off the hour-long meeting with a short introduction going over how the counselors would begin to help the juniors with their college planning process. She reviewed the important things that juniors need to focus on to look appealing to colleges. 

“It was really interesting and helped me understand what actually goes into a college application,” junior Haley Langle said. 

Stein and Henning reviewed the school’s college planning resource; a website called Naviance. They specifically went into detail about the scattergrams, a feature used to map potential acceptance into desired schools. 

“The scattergram will really help with seeing what ACT score and GPA I will need to get into the school I want.” junior Shannon Karlin said. 

The counselors then introduced Favreau who presented on college acceptance and search. Favreau focused mainly on what colleges really look for in an applicant versus what many people assume they look for. 

“It helped me understand and know the myths and stresses that go into finding the right college for me,” Langle said.

While it may have been a rude awakening as to how close college is for some, it helped to relieve the stress around college decisions for many, according to Grojean. She now gets to look forward to many more college planning events with her class.

“The college counselors always come up with unique ways to get information to us,” Grojean said. “It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds and where people end up looking for college.”