If you are a GlenOak High School student in Stark County, Ohio, you have a daily opportunity to plan a college future beyond high school. That opportunity is called the SBE period. It is a new twist to the school day, featuring career and college counseling for high school students, offered by Principal Mark Black and his staff.

SBE stands for Soaring Beyond Excellent — excellent being the distinction that Plain Local School District in Canton and Plain Township has earned on the state of Ohio’s school report cards. In particular, GlenOak High School has received a state rating of excellent for eight consecutive years. Part of that excellence that Plain Local strives for is excellence in preparing high school students for college and careers, and ensuring that students are “college ready” by the time they graduate.

Plain Local prepares high school students for college through college prep class

SBE is a midmorning college prep class period in which students can visit counselors, explore career ideas and seek extra academic help in difficult areas. One center of activity during SBE is the College Information and Career Center, also established by Mr. Black and the GlenOak staff. At the CICC, counselors are eager to help students create a college preparation plan, help choose prospective colleges and seek scholarship aid. This college counseling at the high school level helps keep students on track.

The College Information and Career Center team includes school counselor Kristi Blankenship and two counseling interns with work experience in college admissions. They are Kristen Zurbuch, who has worked to bring students to Mount Union College and Kent State University, and Rachel Privett, who has worked in admissions at University of Akron. Having experience with college admissions helps CICC with offering students college preparation and counseling while they are still at GlenOak.

The CICC room provides students with a place to meet with college admissions counselors, to conduct college and scholarship research and to meet in private with counselors. Students at GlenOak High School get the preparation for college they need from a dedicated college preparation class.

Counselors college preparation and planning for students and monitor progress post-graduation

The counseling team also meets with students through a series of planned visits to English classes. English is a particularly useful class to engage students in conversations about their futures because English is the one subject all GlenOak students must take in each of their four years at the school.

Students are becoming familiar with the benefits of visiting the College Information and Career Center. “Kids need post-secondary training, and they know it,” said Ms. Blankenship.

In addition to preparing students for college, GlenOak is interested in monitoring their progress once they leave GlenOak. Mr. Black said the high school conducts a survey in the autumn months following high school graduation. Among the questions they ask, he said, are, “Were you college-ready?” Answers to these survey questions over time will help the GlenOak staff to offer students better preparation.