Academic Counseling
Academic Counseling
Counselors provide support, resources, and guidance necessary to ensure academic success. through the following activities and services:
- Orientation to St. Francis High School’s course offerings and graduation requirements;
- Counselors meet with each student individually at least twice a year;
- On-going monitoring of student’s fulfillment of graduation requirements and college entrance eligibility;
- Facilitation of parent/teacher/student conferences if needed;
- Referral to teacher support and peer tutoring;
- Administration of national tests (PSAT, SAT, ACT, AP); Learn More
- Training and advising through Naviance Family Connection.
- For students with learning differences, the counselors partner with our Learning Support Specialist and, who will work with your student to provide academic support; Learn More
Questions? Contact Counseling & Wellness
How Troubies Can Make the Most of Their Summer
Set Some Personal or Academic Goals – this could include improving in a subject, reading a certain number of books, or developing a new skill.
2025 – 2026 Schedules
The last day for any student-initiated schedule change request is May 21, 2025. Students must contact their Counselor to discuss the schedule change. Schedules can be viewed in PowerSchool the first week of July.
Sacramento State University Summer Youth Academies
Are you a freshman, sophomore, or junior looking for something to do this summer?
CSUS offers numerous week-long academies focusing on a wide variety of topics, including Coding, Creating an Online Business, Digital Forensics, and many more! Check them out here.
Course Verification Review
Counselors are now reviewing the Course Registration Forms that students submitted. While SFHS makes every effort to accommodate course requests, depending on course availability, sometimes students do not get all of the courses they have requested. Counselors will contact students if there is a schedule conflict after the Master Schedule is created in May. The final date for any course request changes is May 21. Final schedules will be distributed in July.
Paying for College / Financial Aid
By now, most senior families should have completed the FAFSA and/or the CSS Profile, even if they think they will not qualify for financial aid. If a family has not yet applied, check the website of the colleges and universities to determine if there is still time to apply.
This document helps families learn how to read their financial aid award offers Sallie Mae decoding-financial-aid.pdf. It’s helpful to understand the terminology and to realize that financial aid offers do not have to follow a particular format. Some are much easier to understand than others.
Senior Parents: Will You Have Two Students in College Next Year?
Due to the FAFSA changes, colleges will no longer consider the number of students in a family that are attending college at the same time. Families in this situation should contact the financial aid offices for BOTH students (the student currently attending college and the current SFHS senior) and ask them to re-evaluate their financial aid offers (once offers are available).
If you feel it’s necessary to appeal the financial aid offer, have the student call or submit the scholarship/financial aid appeal, as it’s important for the college to know that the student is invested in the process and wants to attend their college.
Summer College Essay Writing Workshop
June 9 – 13, 8:00am to 10:00am
During the Summer College Essay Writing Workshop, students will commit to drafting, editing, and finalizing their personal statement/Common Application main essay, in addition to selecting at least two supplemental essay topics to finish. With full engagement to the tasks of the week, all students will end the workshop with a plan in place to tackle any remaining writing tasks with support from their peers and from the workshop instructor.
Three March College Planning Workshops for All Grade Levels
All students are welcome to join the SFHS College Advisors and some guest presenters to learn more about the following topics. All presentations/workshops will be held in the Counseling & College Center at lunchtime. Students should bring their lunch with them.
Course Verification
To complete the course registration process for the next academic year, students must bring a signed Course Registration Form, signed by a parent, to the Counseling and College Center during the course verification window March 10-12. Counselors will verify that the parent-signed Course Registration Form matches the courses that were requested in PowerSchool. If a student is not able to get the form turned in, she should reach out to her counselor directly.
Course Registration
The Academic Counselors are meeting with students to discuss their course selections for next year. As a reminder, students will input their course requests into PowerSchool the week of March 3 – 7 and complete a Course Registration form for parents to sign (the form was emailed to all students).
Support as the Quarter Ends
As the third quarter wraps up on March 14, some students may feel the weight of their responsibilities and become overwhelmed. This busy period is filled with academic deadlines, extracurricular activities, and academic team or athletic commitments, making time management challenging. During this time, parents may also find themselves unsure of how best to support their students. Here are some helpful tips for both students and parents:
Seniors: Read your Email and Check College Portals!
The vast majority of colleges have set up a school-specific portal for applicants to utilize. Seniors must check their college portals often, as well as check email often, as colleges will use these two methods of communication to let students know important information.
College Advising Workshops in March
Open to all grade levels
College Advisors and special guests will present three workshops throughout the month of March. All workshops will be held at lunchtime in the Counseling & College Center:
- March 4: Pathways to Nursing
- March 11: Fun with Numbers: Calculating your GPA and College GPAs
- March 25: Pathways to Business
College Planning Meetings for Juniors
Ms. Austin and Ms. Lee will be meeting with juniors from February through May for their one-on-one College Planning Meetings. Juniors should check their email for a google calendar invite and respond promptly, especially if the meeting needs to be rescheduled for any reason.
Naviance Tasks
Naviance Tasks were assigned to sophomores and juniors and were due last semester. All students are encouraged to complete the tasks if they haven’t already. The Naviance questionnaires enable students to begin thinking about future careers and learn about themselves. Counselors review the Naviance information when they meet with students for their individual appointments.
Course Registration
The Academic Counselors are meeting with students to discuss their course selections for next year. As a reminder, students will input their course requests into PowerSchool the week of March 3 – 7 and complete a Course Registration form for parents to sign. March 10 – 14 are Course Verification Days in which students bring in their signed forms to the Counseling & College Center, and a Counselor will verify that the information in PowerSchool matches what is on the form.
Affording College Webinar
January 29, 2025 at 5:00pm
Revolution Prep is hosting a webinar focused on paying for college and financial aid. Register here.
Scott Wallace-Juedes, the Assistant Vice President of Financial Aid at NYU (and former Director of Financial Aid at Yale), will share actionable insights on navigating financial aid for college. Families will learn about the latest FAFSA and CSS profile updates, scholarships, grants, and strategies to make college affordable.
Class Level Parent Nights & Junior Parent College Night – Wednesday, January 22
Parents of Freshmen and Sophomores are invited to join us for in-person parent night presentations. We will discuss course availability, prerequisites, and the course registration process. We will also cover course pathways, honors and AP courses, and college information.
Naviance Data Collection – Seniors Enter Colleges into Naviance
Seniors’ Naviance accounts should be updated with all of the colleges to which they have applied, and seniors should update their admission results in Naviance as they receive responses from colleges and universities. After May 1, we will ask seniors to select their final college or university of choice in Naviance, and that is where the final transcript will be sent.
Mid-Year Transcripts for Seniors
We will be uploading mid-year transcripts (which include grades from the first semester of senior year) to Common Application accounts for colleges to access. Students do not need to make a special request — we will take care of this. If a senior has any non-Common App schools that require a mid-year transcript, they should complete the Senior Transcript Request google form that Mrs. Rivera will email on January 16th.