PHILOSOPHY

The Notre Dame Guidance Department strives to assist and support students, through an extensive variety of personal and academic services, to attain the maximum academic, personal, spiritual, and intellectual growth possible during their four-year journey through high school. We recognize that students need to learn how to accept responsibility for their own growth and so we strive to help them discover and utilize the tools they need to effectively handle their personal and academic issues.

GENERAL OUTCOMES

Students who have used the Guidance Department services to its fullest extent will be able to:

•Make realistic, evaluations of their interests and goals;
•Understand and have experience using various standardized testing formats as preparation for further academic demands;
•Understand how to make better decisions and choices about careers due to exposure to career speakers in various walks of life;
•Understand the process of high school education planning via individualized and group college counseling programs and other formats organized by the counseling department;
•Understand and recognize the various components of the college application process and have experienced the process;
•Make appropriate choices for themselves about the best college and career choices according to their needs, skills, abilities and interests;
•Be able to identify how they may relate to others and learn more effective ways to relate in positive and healthy ways;
•Utilize acquired tools to sort out how to effectively manage time;
•Utilize acquired tools to make good personal and academic choices and decisions:
•Utilize acquired tools to identify the kinds of issues that can get in the way of making good choices and how to make necessary changes when needed;
•Understand their strengths and weaknesses better and be able to create action plans that can facilitate personal growth throughout their lives;
•Understand that the “spiritual” part of them can be tapped into to help guide them through good and difficult times during the choice making and decision making process.

OBJECTIVES

•Assess strengths and limits of each student academically and personally
•Help students create personal and academic action plans to facilitate growth
•Assist students to implement their personal and academic action plans
•Assist students to address issues that get in the way of their academic and personal progress
•Assist students to discover and uncover their talents and abilities • Assist students to discover and make choices about post high school education and careers
•Assist parents by offering support for their student’s academic and personal issues
•Assist parents by educating and helping them understand the challenges of parenting through the adolescent years
•Assist parents and students in times of crises or loss
•Assist parents by being the conduit to facilitate communication between student, teachers, parent via small group or individual conference(s)
•Assist teachers by facilitating communication between students and parents
•Assist teachers by sharing information about specific issues the student may be dealing with to help them better understand and aid the student in the classroom environment