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10/8/2014 College advisers prepare for year two in county - North Carolina - News-Record.com

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College advisers prepare for year two incounty

By Katie Mann & Jessica Alexander/RockinghamNow.com To reach out to the college advisers within RockinghamCounty contact each of them at their prospective schools.Alex Lucas – [email protected] Mahato –[email protected] Merrill – [email protected] Schoberle –[email protected] | Posted 1 month ago

Four women are ready to take on year No. 2 with Rockingham County Schools.

Alex Lucas, Alecia Mahato, Madeline Merrill and Gloria Schoberle were placed in

Alex Lucas, a college adviser for McMichael High School, shows off the College Corner in the school'slibrary.

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Jessica Alexander/RockinghamNow.com [email protected]

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Rockingham County last year to help prepare juniors and seniors in high school for theirfuture.

Through the Carolina College Advising Corps the four advisers help students make the bestpossible decision when choosing a college.

The advisers provide students with opportunities to tour colleges in North Carolina, preparestudents for SAT and ACT testing, help instruct parents and students through the financial aidprocess and much more.

With their first year of college advising behind them, the advisers are ready to tackle year No.2 with experience under their belt.

Reidsville High School

Gloria Schoeberle is a Morganton native and 2013 University of North Carolina Chapel Hillgraduate.

Two years ago, Schoeberle never would have guessed that she would pursue a career ineducation. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications. Shelearned of the program through a family friend.

The Reidsville High School stationed college adviser said it was “kind of meant to be.”

“It’s so fun to come up with creative ways to get students registered for the SAT or help themwill college applications,” she said. “It was really a fun learning experience.”

Schoeberle said although her first year was wonderful, it was mainly trial and error.

“Going into year two, I feel like I have the basics down,” she said. “We can now get evenmore into innovative programs.”

Schoeberle said she looks forward to getting to know the rising seniors and continuing herwork with the College Ambassador’s Club at Reidsville High. The goal of the club is topromote a college going culture throughout the high school.

“I can tell them something all day long but if they hear it from their friends and their peers, itreally does stick,” Schoeberle said.

One of the biggest projects last year was a car wash to raise funds for the Kent “Top” GriffinScholarship Fund.

“Everyone [College Advisers] is very good at collaborating,” Schoeberle said. “We feel thatwe seriously influence the percentage of students in our schools that went on to a four-yearuniversity or a two-year school.”

Schoeberle meets with students one-on-one to give them information on scholarships,financial aid and more. Students can also request her services.

“We’re ready to hit the ground running and do even better than last year.”

Morehead High School



After entering the main office at Morehead High School and asking for Mrs. Mahato, thereceptionist directs parents and students down the main hallway to the fifth door on the leftlabeled “Career Services.” Inside, sits an energized and higher education loving collegeadviser, Alecia Mahato.

Mahato attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and majored in public healthand international studies and she believes she’s right where she needs to be.

“I found this to be a good transition after undergrad,” Mahato said.

Mahato used to spend a lot of her time in college tutoring English as a second language andworking with undocumented students.

“Working with students who were vulnerable and at risk was near and dear to my heart,” shesaid.

Now Mahato conquers college advising through different avenues.

When she first came to Morehead, a lot of changes were going on with staff and the sense ofurgency for college and career planning was minimal.

“It was a challenge,” she said. “But now that I have more people that I know and I’ve builtrelationships, people know how I work and it’s going to help this year.”

This year Mahato focuses a lot of her time on helping to rebrand the school, and standardizedtesting.

Morehead High School is trying to revitalize Panther Pride.

“We feel that we’ve lost our panther pride and we’re trying to bring it back,” she said.

Faculty and staff are using specific hashtags on twitter such as #MHSsuccess and#MHStogetherwerise.

“We debuted that to all the staff and now we’re getting them on board with social media,” shesaid. “That’s going to create positive energy around the school and we’ll better communicatewith students.”

Mahato also focuses on students taking the ACT and SAT.

She wants to break standardized testing down and take it from all angles – studentpreparedness academically and emotionally.

Students will have the opportunity to talk with Mahato in her after school prep sessions for thetest and during the day in her office.

“She is inspiring; she’s motivational, and she is that bright ray of sunshine,” Christy Hensley,Career Development Coordinator at Morehead High School said of Mahato. “She reachesevery student and it doesn’t matter who they are, she wants to see them.”

Carolina College Advising only lasts for two years and Mahato doesn’t know what her nextstep is personally, but she wants to eventually go to law school.



“It’s a long term goal,” she said.

Mahato and her husband live in Reidsville until the end of the school year. Her husbandapplied to N.C. State and Mahato has her fingers crossed for him.

Mahato said her days are never the same, but 60 percent of the time she’s in one-on-onemeetings with parents or students.

She looks forward to collaborating this year with fellow Panthers and her Rockingham Countycollege advisers as well.

Dalton L. McMichael High School

UNC Chapel Hill graduate and Eastover native, Alex Lucas, is dedicated to motivatingMcMichael High School students to enroll into college.

Lucas has numerous events planned for her second and last year as a college adviser.

During lunch periods, Lucas will have students register for the SAT and ACT standardizedtests for three weeks. She has designated an area in the school’s library to the CollegeCorner, from which students can take information about the different colleges in NorthCarolina.

She does not stop there.

Lucas is organizing a “Money Mondays” booth in the school’s cafeteria, highlight ascholarship of the day every Monday and “Writing Wednesdays”, which underlinesscholarship essay, resume or college application essay writing skills.

Every Tuesday, Lucas is conducting Pizza and Prep that focuses on standardized test prep.

“My plan is to not let the momentum stop,” Lucas said.

Lucas hopes to coordinate an event called the Career Connection.

“Essentially what I want to do is something that we as a school have never done before,”Lucas said. “I want to make something available to all of the students that allows them accessto career information from professionals that can pass on that information to the educationthey would need to receive to become successful in that particular track.”

On Thursday, Sept. 25, all the high schools will participate in a college fair. The students willnetwork with ambassadors from Duke University, UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University,Meredith College, Salem College and possibly Guilford College.

Although Lucas holds a Bachelor’s degree in exercise and sport science, she plans to pursuea career in education after her involvement with College Advisers.

“I'm exploring graduate school programs for higher education administration, “she said. “Nowthat I've helped students navigate the paths to college, I want to help shape the living-learning landscape of higher education institutions.”

Rockingham County High School



In an office on the second floor of Rockingham County High School, an always smilingcollege adviser sits with jolly ranchers on her desk for students to snag when they talk to herabout college.

Madeline Merrill was assigned to Rockingham County High School last year and she feelslike it was meant to be.

“It’s funny,” Merrill said. “If you would have asked me two years ago where I would be, I wouldnot have said this. But I’ve been so pleased with this job.”

Merrill spent most of her time in 2013 learning how her year would go.

“I just really feel like last year, it was more of me being reactionary and kind of figuring it outon the go,” she said.

This year she gets to set the pace.

The first week of school, Merrill wants to sit down with parents and students to make sureeveryone is on the same page as the year progresses and the option of college nears closer.

“My plan is to get the parents on board,” Merrill said.

Merrill also wants to focus on reaching the incoming freshmen.

“I want to get kids more aware of what this process entails earlier,” she said.

The four college advisers are all energized and ready for their common app kickoff inSeptember where they expose students to various schools that have common applications.

Merrill said that’s the biggest collaboration the college advisers have planned thus far.

After her first year of being in her current position, Merrill realized that she enjoys the agegroup she’s reaching out to, inclining her to apply for graduate school to get her masters andPhD in education.

Merrill was accepted to the University of Virginia for the fall of 2015 to pursue a master’s ineducation. The masters program leads into a PhD.

“Hopefully I can crank it out,” she said.

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