School Guidance Counselor - 
The American School Counselor Association (ASCA), in conjunction with NACAC, recently published a report that shows school counselors in Iowa average 418 students on their caseload, but we all know school counselors with many more students!
Iowa ACAC is excited to have hosted its first ever Colleges to Counselors (C2C) event on September 6 at Drake University. In total, we had 37 colleges and other organizations present information to an audience of 27 high school counselors. 
As an undergraduate I, like many students, had various interests, but was unsure of my career path. In a Personnel Psychology course one of 
my best college instructors, David Whitsett (now an Emeritus Faculty Professor at UNI), continually encouraged our class to find a career in which we had a passion. Financial security was important, but job satisfaction was critical to being happy and having a meaningful life.
Sometimes you hire a student who walks into the office everyday like they just got done listening to a motivational TED Talk. 
It’s not exactly an obsession, but I love to keep those little hotel shampoos and soaps. I’ve been known to request extras. There. I’ve said it. 
Iowa ACAC is excited to announce the first ever Colleges to Counselors (C2C) Events coming for the 2018-2019 school year!
Whether your daily work is on the high school side or the college side, summer is the ideal time to look back and reflect on what work strategies were effective and which tactics could use some fine tuning. Staff retreats are no different; it’s important to make time to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life to look back on the past year, while keeping an eye toward the future. Your Iowa ACAC Executive Board held their 
annual retreat on August 6 and 7 at The Hotel at Kirkwood Center. We welcomed 8 new Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs, while saying "farewell" to 5 valued committee chairs who rolled off the Board.
I find myself telling students “don’t look for 
colleges the way I did” all the time. I was the student that did well in school, did not flinch at acceptance criteria, did not explore the options and just followed her sister to school without even talking to a counselor or scheduling a visit. I am so thankful that I got lucky enough to love the institution I enrolled at – so much that they sucked me back in as an admission counselor.
Each year, the state of Iowa accepts several hundred refugees from countries around the world.
The 2018 R.I.D.E. is in the books, and what a successful experience it was! Thirty-one professional school counselors from every corner of 
Iowa, and even a special guest from Minnesota, took some time for some “college knowledge” by participating in Iowa ACAC’s 15th annual three-day learning trek.
A school counselor’s perspective... 
Subtitled: How to keep your Iowa ACAC Executive Assistant happy!
Campuses have been hosting events and visits for as long as most of us can remember. But, just because your institution’s visits and events 
have always looked a certain way, is that the way they need to stay?
Thank you to all the Iowa ACAC members who made it to Dubuque for the 2018 MIDWest Conference! Around 400 admissions professionals from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas attended, making it a great opportunity to learn, network, and have a little fun!
Although nothing beats human interaction and learning in-person, webinars can be a wonderful way to encourage and participate in continued learning and professional development without leaving campus! 
As a self-proclaimed food critic, Gordon Ramsey-fanatic, Food Network junkie, and traveling Admissions Professional for the past 7 1/2 years, the opportunity for dining out and experiencing different restaurants across the great plains of Iowa is inevitable for me and my peers in the admissions profession.
This year I had the opportunity to attend the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NORE) in New Orleans. This was my first time attending the conference and I did not know what to expect.
I don't know about you, but my office and desk get organized about two times a year. It's not that I don't like an organized space, it just seems to always end up on the bottom of my "to do" list. Then comes winter or summer break, and I find myself elbow deep in papers to file, old notes to throw away, and oh-my-goodness is THAT what happens to grapes when you leave them in a plastic container for a month?!
(Don't judge, but yes, that happened.)
As a school counselor or college admissions counselor, it is “in our blood” to think of others first. We strive daily to help our students in any way we can and not just between the hours of 8a.m. and 5p.m., Monday thru Friday. Something we all need to remember, at times, is to step back and do something for ourselves. Professional development is a great opportunity to improve yourself that can also have a positive impact on the students we serve. Whether you are brand new, or a seasoned veteran, there IS something for you.
