Applications from the city of Chicago for Knox and Lake Forest College have grown exponentially due to the relationships built and established between admissions and high school counseling staffs.The panel will highlight building and maintaining collaborative relationships between high school and college counselors as well as community based organizations to effectively work with students and their families on developing successful applications and transitions to college from the city of Chicago.

1. City of Chicago…
LET’S CONNECT!
René Gomez
Assistant Director of Admissions
Lake Forest College
DeVone Eurales
Senior Assistant Director of Admission,
Coordinator of Multicultural Recruitment
Knox College

2. City of Chicago… Let’s Connect!
• Building Collaborative Relationships with:
▫ High School Counselors and Admission Staffs
▫ Community Based Organizations and Admission
Staffs
• Helping Students and their Families with
developing successful applications and
transitions to college.

3. Session Goals
• Leave this session with:
▫ Blueprint to better recruit the city of Chicago.
▫ Strategies that can be implemented within your
office, high school or college.
▫ Tips and Best Practices on communication
between counseling professionals.
▫ Tips on how to manage and cultivate dialogue
between counseling staffs and families.

4. Why Chicago as a focus?
• Both Knox and Lake Forest College have seen an
increase in applications over the past three
years.
• With constant expansions of schools and
programming within the City, it has become
essential for us to be able to navigate the
connections that are helpful to the students that
we work with but also the institutions we work
for.

5. Chicago Schools
 Two types:
› Chicago Public Schools
› Chicago Parochial and Private Schools
 Both are different!
› CPS: Multiple types
› Neighborhood, Selective Enrollment, Military, Charters
and Technical, etc.
› Access dependent on school resources
› Parochial/Private
› Funding, Religious based, Gender based, etc.

6. Chicago Schools cont…
• These small differences alone prove that there
are different/effective ways to work with each
type of school/program.
• High School Counselors and Admissions
Representatives should begin/continue
discussions on how to build rapport between the
two!

7. How do we cultivate relationships?
• Build the relationship
• Maintain the relationship

8. High School Admission
Counselors Counselors
Tips for
High School Counselors

9. Building Collaborative Relationships
• What are you doing to build the bridge with high
Admission counselors?
• Start the conversation
 Begin to have discussions with your admissions
colleagues about students that have been successful
at their schools.

10. Building Collaborative Relationships
cont…
• Be proactive ask for help!
 Examples: We’re having a college night could you
lead a panel session.
 Would you be willing to come speak with a group of
juniors.

11. Maintaining Relationships
 Reaching Out
 Call the College to check on applicants
 What profile of students are these schools looking
for?
 Have students from your institutions been
admitted?
 Have you and/or your students visited campuses?
 Have you contacted Admissions for possible
programming help?
 Junior Nights, Writing Sessions, Mock Interviews

12. Admission High School
Counselors Counselors
Tips for
Admission Counselors

13. Building Collaborative Relationships
• What are you doing to build the bridge with high
school counselors?
▫ Connecting to their needs!
 College Panels
 Classroom visits
 Family/Parent nights
 Professional Development sessions
 Campus Visits

14. Building the Relationship
• “First Date”
▫ How long have you been there?
▫ How big is your case load?
▫ What do love most about job?
▫ Have you had much contact with my institution?
▫ How long have you been in the profession and in
what capacity?

15. Maintain the Relationship
• “The Courting Process” - Monthly Check-ins
▫ How are they?
▫ How are their students?
▫ What can I do to help you?
▫ Is there any updated information I can have?
▫ Have you connected with our alumni teacher in
the school?

16. Community Based Organizations
• There are many organizations that deal with the
youth of Chicago.
• Some examples include:
▫ Chicago Scholars
▫ Urban Students (U.S.) Empowered
▫ HighSight
▫ LINK Unlimited
▫ East Village Youth Program
▫ Upward Bound

17. Community Based Orgs. cont…
 These programs give students opportunities to grow
outside of their classrooms.
 Programming may include:
› ACT prep
› College Visits
› Onsite Interviews
› Essay Writing Workshops
 These programs break the mold of the “like”
student within CPS Schools to a more global
outlook of students… since they are coming from
different schools!

18. A few CBO’s in the City
(Click on the name to open the hyperlink)
• Ada S. McKinley – Henry Ray, Senior Educational Counselor/Trainer, hray@adasmckinley.org
• After School Matters – Mark Pristop, Post Secondary Coordinator, mark.pristop@cityofchicago.org
• Chicago Scholars – Meseret Negash, Senior Vice President, External Affairs, mnegash@chicagoscholars.org
• Chicago Youth Centers – Renee Daye-Cross, Career & College Readiness Coordinator, renee.daye@chicagoyouthcenters.org
• Collegiate Scholars – Jacqueline Gaines, Manager of College Advising and Admissions, jgaines@uchicago.edu
• Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation – Carol Lee Barry, Director of College Counseling, carollee@dmsf.org
• Genesys Works – Melissa Vater, Program Coordinator-Lead Instructor, mvater@genesysworks.org
• HighSight – Patty Hart, Program Director, patty@highsight.org
• Link Unlimited – Rodney Gore, Program Manager, rgore@linkunlimited.org
• Marwen – Saba Syal Elahi, Coordinator of College and Career Programs, ssyal@marwen.org
• Target Hope

19. Community Based Admission
Organizations Counselors
Tips for
Community Based Organizations

20. Building Collaborative Relationships
• What are you doing to build the bridge with
Admission Counselors?
▫ Accessibility!
 Have you reached out to schools to come and visit
your CBO site?
 Have students been prepped and are they genuinely
interested in the visiting with the school?

21. Maintain the Relationship
• Monthly Check-ins
▫ Call with updates about students.
▫ Discuss current students from your CBO
▫ Strategize programming opportunities
 Application review session
 Campus Visit
▫ What can I do for you?

22. Admission Community Based
Counselors Organizations
Tips for
Admission Counselors

23. Building the Relationship
• What are you doing to build the bridge with
Community Based Organizations?
▫ Connect to their needs!
 Get to know who you need to know
 Visit and tour the facility
 Interact with the students more informally

24. Maintain the Relationship
• Monthly Check-ins
▫ How are they?
▫ How are their students?
▫ What can I do to help you?
▫ Is there any updated information I can have?

25. Relationships…
• Translate into:
• More exposure and interest
• To More Effective Applications!

26. According to…
• The Consortium on Chicago School Research
▫ CPS students who aspire to complete a four-year
degree do not effectively participate in the college
application process.1
▫ So how do we make sure students become actively
involved in the application process?
1
Executive Summary – From High School to the Future: Potholes on
the Road to College – March 2008

27. Effective Applications
• What are effective applications?
▫ MATCH AND FIT!
• How do we create successful applications?
▫ Sensibility
 Are we helping the student apply to schools that make
sense to their ability?
▫ College Success of Student
 Are the colleges that we are suggesting or working for
have the proper environment (academic, social,
aspirations, beliefs, etc.) for the student?
 We need to help guide students to schools that ARE a
possible yes! Encourage them to be honest with
themselves and their aptitude.

28. Effective Applications
• Build a rapport with the family!
▫ If families feel that you are looking for their best
interest in mind… this will begin the process of
understanding what applying to college entails
▫ Once families feel your concern they will, in turn,
provide TRUST!

29. Effective Application cont…
• How do you build trust?
▫ Accountability
 Do what you say, you’re going to do!
▫ Reliability
 Consistent
▫ Knowledge
 Know your stuff, know your students, know your
profession!
▫ Maintain Best Interest
 Don’t turn them into something they are not!
▫ Professional

30. Effective Applications cont…
• We need to use our consulting skills
▫ Authenticity
▫ Relatable
▫ Transparency
• With these skills, we can then give responsibility
to the student to establish their role as an
advocate for themselves!

31. Transitions to College
• Students have ideas of what the transition to
college should be.
• They will find that it is one of self-discovery and
growth in a new environment
▫ When students relate to the niche of what the
college provides, you are more likely to have them
as an applicant!

32. Working together on transition
• Look at transition from the student’s point of
view.
▫ Who you are now?
▫ How will you approach varying environments?
▫ What expectations have you set?
▫ Have these expectations limited yourself or other
factors?

33. Working together on transition cont…
• You have to let students know that their
expectations may not always be met
• As the consultant… CONSULT!
▫ We are all on the same page – hoping to have the
best match fit. We will not set them up to fail or
be disappointed but we understand that there are
reaches!

34. According to…
• The Consortium on Chicago School Research
▫ Only about one-third of CPS students who aspire
to complete a four-year degree enroll in a college
that matches their qualifications.2
▫ How do we make sure that students find and know
what schools are best fit?
2
Executive Summary – From High School to the Future: Potholes
on the Road to College – March 2008

35. How do we find best match/fit?
• Make relatable connections to the students
▫ Incorporate past student success/experiences
▫ Historical Evaluations
• Is this a good match in general? What are the
challenges other students have had to overcome?
Resources?

36. Match/Fit cont…
• Urban to Urban… isn’t an automatic match
• Each neighborhood is different. Students from
different ways of life and cultures gravitate to
different things. Find connections!
• Leaving High School and going to College WILL
BE DIFFERENT! Doesn’t matter how we phrase
it!

37. Finally…
• Your student really won’t know what they will
exactly need until…
THEY GET THERE! Be supportive and a
resource when they set foot on campus!

38. Panel Discussion
• Moderator
▫ Quinton Clay
 Assistant Director of Admission and Coordinator of Chicago
Recruitment – Grinnell College – clayquin@grinnell.edu
• Panel
▫ Caroline Kelly
 Dean of College Counseling – Pritzker College Prep –
ckelly@noblenetwork.org
▫ Celso Cárdenas
 College Counselor and Coordinator of College Testing – Francis W.
Parker School – ccardenas@fwparker.org
▫ Patty Hart
 Program Director – HighSight – patty.hart@highsight.org
▫ Audrey Penman
 Admissions Counselor – Western Illinois University –
AR-penman@wiu.edu

39. Thanks from Us! 
René Gomez
Assistant Director of Admissions
Lake Forest College
(847)735-5008
gomez@lakeforest.edu
DeVone Eurales
Senior Assistant Director of Admission
Knox College
(309) 341-7147
deurales@knox.edu