Countdown to College Blog

The beginning of the school year brings all kinds of exciting things: first-day-of-school pictures on the front porch (if your teens will allow such a thing), fresh school supplies and the return of fall sports. Can’t you just smell the pumpkin spice and caramel apples?

But can we be honest? It also brings a return to homework and tests, busy schedules and helping your teen navigate the social scene of high school. For parents of juniors, you’re also thinking about the standardized tests and college visits that are coming this year. (We’ll talk in detail about those topics at our Grade 11 College Planning Parent Night on September 17.) And for parents of seniors, the Common App is likely a frequent topic of conversation in your home right now. No matter what grade your teens are in, we’re saying goodbye to summer relaxation, and saying hello to fall busyness.

(Need a minute for a deep breath? Go for it.)

We know that the college admission process can cause stress and anxiety for both parents and students.  That’s why our college counseling program is built on two overarching goals:

1. To provide families with the information needed to navigate the journey – customized for each student’s interests and goals.

2. To alleviate stress as much as possible by shifting the focus away from the world’s definition of success and toward God’s definition of success.

That’s why we were thrilled when the school chose Never Enough by Jennifer Breheny Wallace as the summer reading for all faculty members. While not written from a Christian perspective, the author directly challenges achievement culture and advocates for a cultural shift, with many of her suggestions for change lining up with biblical teaching.

Our summer reading has sparked a conversation among the faculty about how to resist the negatives of achievement culture and keep the positives, and we’re glad to bring that conversation to parents too. In partnership with the JK-12 counseling team, we’ll be hosting an eight-week book study on Never Enough for parents on Tuesday mornings starting on October 1. We’d love for you to join us! We’ll have large-group discussions with parents of all grade levels and division-level breakout sessions that will allow us to go deeper into the experience of parenting high school students. We’ll talk about college admissions when it’s relevant, but we’ll also talk about promoting community and others-awareness, how and when to slow the pace down and tools for helping teens feel like they matter. You’ll find all the details, including an RSVP, here. We hope you’ll join us for each of the sessions, but we’ll be glad to see you if only one of the dates works in your schedule as well. If Tuesday mornings don’t work for you, we encourage you to read the book on your own.

For now, we’ll leave you with this verse to pray over today, asking God to help you stay focused on his definition of success as you navigate college admissions with your teen.

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock."

Isaiah 26:3-4

May the peace of the Lord fill your soul, today and every day.

Blessings,

Jodi Foxx
Director of College Counseling