West Liberty is one of two schools in the country being recognized by the National Postsecondary Strategy Institute (NPSI) and Reach Higher on June 8 as a Power of Hope Award winner for excellence in engaging counselors for students’ postsecondary success. West Liberty High School counseling department representatives will attend the awards ceremony at 8:30 a.m. in Washington DC–it will be live-streamed via Zoom. The link to register to watch the ceremony live is below. The West Liberty Community School District is proud of its counseling team and efforts to help Comets succeed.
“The Power of Hope Award is built on the belief that we have a social, economic, and moral imperative to support more low-income and underrepresented racial minority students to and through college,” said Stephanie Owens, executive director of Reach Higher and Common App’s Vice President of Student Success. “We’re honored to partner with NPSI to recognize these school districts and the work their counselors do every day to change the lives of students and the communities in which they serve.”
“We are proud to recognize school districts that have moved school counselors from the periphery of leadership into a centralized role, engaging them as data-informed leaders who are empowered with resources to help all students receive the support and experiences to reach for an educational credential beyond a high school diploma,” said Joyce Brown, founding partner of NPSI.
The two recipients of this year’s Power of Hope Award are:
Southwest ISD, San Antonio, Texas
Southwest ISD recognizes the value of counselors. They are valued as an integral component of the postsecondary advising framework. A director of school counseling leads postsecondary planning with elementary, middle, and high school counselors to ensure that every student leaves high school with a postsecondary plan. Data guides the coordination of postsecondary programs across all grade levels and is used to develop interventions to implement college, career, and military readiness programs, especially at the elementary level.
West Liberty Community School District, West Liberty
West Liberty CSD is a small rural district that implements a collaborative college advising system to improve postsecondary outcomes and includes a college and career counselor with a dual role as a high school counselor and community college advisor. This position forms a seamless process to support students transitioning from high school into postsecondary. The district also has two full-time counselors. All counselors engage in postsecondary advising and lead postsecondary activities across all grade levels.
Past winning districts:
Alvord ISD, California; Chicago Public Schools, Illinois; Garland ISD, Texas; Grand Prairie ISD, Texas; Moreno Valley ISD, California; New York Department of Education, New York; San Jacinto USD, California; Socorro, ISD, Texas; and Westminster Public Schools, Colorado.
Spotlight districts:
Columbus Community School District and Stillwell Public Schools, Oklahoma.
Notification:
This content has been provided via press release or other notification systems to Discover Muscatine. It is being published as a resource for the Muscatine community and has not been vetted or edited by our staff. Please direct all questions to the contributor, West Liberty Community School District.
