By Claire Regenstreif
Staff Writer
Mira Costa hired two new College and Career Center counselors, Judy Park and Caryn Ramirez, for the 2014-15 school year, after previous counselors Megen Anspach and Kristi Branim took positions at alternate schools.
According to Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale, the interview process was highly competitive, with a total of 12 applicants. The Costa administration chose the two new staff members based on their skill with college planning and experience.
“The previous staff did a good job, but we wanted a staff that had a passion for college and career counseling,” Dale said. “This isn’t life; this is putting students into college.”
Park came to Costa after eight years of working as a counselor and coordinator for multiple schools in Lakewood, California. She worked with students in grades six through 12.
“It’s really important that students at such a prestigious high school get the attention and help for college that they really need,” Park said.
Ramirez previously worked in the admissions office at the University of Southern California. Afterwards she went back to school to get a masters in counseling and became a college and career counselor at San Pedro High School.
“When you’re becoming a college counselor, you want to work with students who are motivated and are going to take advantage of the opportunities they can have after high school,” Ramirez said. “Everyone here is so motivated and has big goals.”
According to Ramirez, the counselors want to introduce new higher learning opportunities to Costa that students have not taken interest in in the past.
“In my opinion, the toughest thing this year is going to be getting students interested in the colleges and universities coming to Costa and putting the word out to show up,” Ramirez said.
Currently, Park and Ramirez are looking at Costa students’ previous rejections from colleges, and analyzing the data. They plan to visit the schools with the greatest number of rejections to find out what the College and Career Center’s previous weaknesses were and to find what they can change to provide students with an upper hand.
“When you hire people who have experience in that career, they’re going to instinctively know what to do,” Dale said.
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