All of our counselors at Poway High are fantastic and accomplish many great things for students. There are many things Titans love, and there are some things we wish they would do more of that goes just beyond creating schedules. 

YAY

Welcoming: Walking into a counselor’s office can be scary, but our counselors are extremely welcoming and will try to assist students to the best of their ability. Warm smiles, friendly waves, and bright colored decorations around the room help students who may have felt anxious to go ask their counselor for help. 

Help via email: Even when counselors are not available, they are always easy to communicate with by email. Finding a counselor’s email is easily accessible to all Titans by either going into their office, or going to the Poway High School website under the counselor department section. When emailing a counselor they usually respond quickly within a few hours and at most a couple days.

Scheduling for Graduation: As Titans turn the corner to the end of their high school career, students must make sure that they fulfill their requirements in order to graduate. Seniors can easily go to their counselors to ask about what classes they still need to take to graduate, and counselors are able to move classes around to make sure that students will graduate. 

Supporting students Course Changes: Sometimes courses may be too challenging, or not a good fit for students. When Titans ask to drop a course or change an elective, the counselors are always very supportive. Counselors offer good alternatives based on the previous courses the student took and where they would succeed the best. 

Wishes

More college  and future planning advice starting sophomore year: Titans often go to the counselors in search of some guidance and advice as to what they should do for college, and what classes they should take to achieve their goals. It would be very helpful instead of receiving the typical answer of “it is up to you” or “whatever you think would be best,” to receive actual advice based on how the student performed throughout high school, and how they did in their classes as to what path they should take both in and beyond high school. 

Morespace to wait for counselors: Often counselors are busy and students have toline up to wait outside their office until they are available. It would be very helpful to have more than two waiting chairs outside their office. This way, if a student has to wait a substantial amount of time, they are able to sit and rest. 

More streamlined process for changing classes: When going to request a schedule change there is a long, uncertain process. From scanning a QR code that doesn’t always work to not knowing if the request even went through after not hearing back from the counselor, there should be an easier and more efficient way to know if you were able to get your schedule changed. 

Following through on students requests without having to check if it is done: Counselors are good about adhering to students requests, but it may take a few visits to their office to remind them. It without multiple reminders. Knowing that most of the time counselors are very busy and may not get to these requests right away, it woud be helpful if there was an only tracking portal through a students PUSD account to see what classes they are enrolled in for the upcoming trimesters so that Titans could also see when these changes have been made without having to go back to their counselor to ask multiple times about their request.