College Counselor

POSITION: College Counselor
REPORTS TO: Director of Postgraduate Success
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Exempt
SCHEDULE: 12 months; Full-Time

Cristo Rey Jesuit seeks a full-time College Counselor to provide best-in-class service to students from ninth grade through matriculation to college.
Are you hard-working and committed to accompanying urban students on the journey through high school to college?
Are you inspired by the transformative capacity of Catholic education in the Jesuit tradition?
Are you passionate about building a just and equitable learning environment that empowers students?
Are you courageous, energetic, and optimistic, quick to recognize the good in every student?
Are you an empathetic listener who builds trusting relationships with students, parents, and colleagues?
Are you efficient and entrepreneurial, ready to fulfill diverse responsibilities in a fast-paced, evolving environment?
Are you growth-oriented and data-driven, able to maximize feedback and resources to reach ambitious goals?
If so, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School needs your talent to enrich our supportive, college-bound learning community, serve families who embrace bold dreams for their children, and inspire students to lead through service to others.

About Cristo Rey Jesuit

Cristo Rey Jesuit (CRJ) Milwaukee is part of a national network of 38 high schools transforming urban education through a unique integration of college-prep academics, professional experience, and spiritual formation with a focus on students of limited financial means.  At CRJ’s new $35 million campus, just across
the Menomonee Valley from Marquette University, in the heart of Milwaukee’s dynamic Clarke Square, Cristo Rey serves a diverse student body of approximately 425 young men and women and 250 alumni.  Students attend class four days per week and work in a professional setting one day per week through our innovative Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP).  It is the collective mission of our staff to provide our students with a Jesuit education that ensures they students gain admission to—and ultimately graduate from—college.  In pursuit of that goal, Cristo Rey staff collaborate, reflect, and practice to maximize their impact each day.

Job Description

The College Counselor reports to the Director of Postgraduate Success. As part of Cristo Rey Jesuit’s Postgraduate Success team, you will blend ambitious vision with clear systems thinking to leverage your extensive knowledge of college admissions, matriculation, financial aid, on-campus resources, and college-success skills to nurture and sustain a college-going culture at CRJ. You will forge relationships with students and their families starting in ninth grade, including by teaching our College Readiness seminar, advising students on summer program offerings, and presenting at assemblies and parent meetings. You will provide
best-in-class, one-on-one support to seniors and their families through the college admissions process starting in the spring of junior year through the spring of senior year. In the spirit of cura personalis, or care for the whole person, you will help ensure seniors’ social-emotional well-being throughout the admissions process. You will combine empathy, cultural awareness, and your expertise working with colleges and low-income communities to build lasting partnerships between CRJ and college admissions personnel. Your interpersonal intelligence, courage, and drive to find solutions will make you an asset to an adult team that is high-functioning, vibrant, and grounded in a deep commitment to the school’s bold mission. By giving generously of yourself, your gifts, and your time, you will build the foundation of a school that serves its students’ diverse needs, cultivates their many talents, and robustly supports its students to and through college.

Responsibilities

Direct Student Support and Development of Systems and Practices

• Ensure intensive, differentiated, equitable advising for each senior and his/her family through the college admissions process, starting second semester of junior year and through the college decision process.
• Identify high-priority seniors for intervention and personalized support during the college admissions process, and coordinate that support.
• In conjunction with the college counseling team, implement the CRJ College Readiness curriculum, including by teaching 2-3 sections of the twelfth-grade College Readiness course each day and periodic lessons in the lower grades.
• Support students in the college application process and ensure timely delivery of transcripts and other application materials.
• Actively manage pre-college summer programs for underclassmen as a key lever in building compelling college applications, including by researching and advertising strong programs, cultivating relationships with summer programs personnel, and providing targeted advising and application support to CRJ students.
• Identify and support candidates for existing mentoring partnerships with local college students, ensure strong relationships with those partners, and seek opportunities to create new mentoring opportunities.
• Help plan and host parent education and investment day, evening, and weekend events at each grade level, including, but not limited to, a fall FAFSA Day, college fairs, parent meetings, and Senior Signing Day in the spring.
• Seek out and take advantage of opportunities to build a college-going culture at the school by presenting at assemblies, grade-level meetings, and professional development sessions.
• Work with the alumni counselor to enlist CRJ alumni to speak to students, parents, staff, and other stakeholder groups to advance and strengthen the school’s college mission.
• Help plan and execute college admissions events, including hosting college admissions presentations at CRJ and coordinating college-campus visits for CRJ students.
• Proactively build relationships with key college personnel (admissions staff, academic success program staff, opportunity program staff, financial aid officers, academic advisors, and other on-campus champions) to ensure a top-notch admissions experience for CRJ applicants and to build the foundation for strong on-campus support for CRJ graduates after they enroll.
• Ensure a smooth transition of support from college counseling to alumni counseling in spring of senior year.
• Work with the counseling team and school leadership to
  • reach college-readiness metrics (including 100% admission to a four-year institution), track and analyze student data in relation to these metrics, and respond effectively to the trends in the data.
  • Identify areas of strength and growth in college counseling and alumni counseling programs and
    appropriate revisions and/or additions to those programs to increase their efficacy.

Professional Presence

• Model values consistent with Catholic, Jesuit education and service to others.
• Engage students and parents with humility, respect, and empathy to enable full partnership with the school.
• Approach your professional practice through a developmental lens, and enthusiastically participate in professional development, including with the CR Network, to stay up to date on college admission trends; seek and apply feedback from leadership and colleagues; demonstrate drive and independence in accessing resources to further your own improvement.
• Contribute fully to the adult community in a range of contexts: as a member of the twelfth-grade team and the counseling team, in whole-staff meetings, in adult formation sessions, and so on.
• Collaborate with peers with integrity, humility, commitment, humor, and joy to ensure the foundation of trust that will enable the team to accomplish its ambitious goals.
• Embrace the team’s goals and the results we achieve as the collective responsibility of the entire staff.

Student Support and Contribution to School

• Co-lead a student formation advisory to help students develop the CRJ Graduate at Graduation values.
• Actively monitor transitions, meals, and/or other common times to ensure a calm and orderly environment; chaperone and moderate school events, including retreats, field trips, college visits, and dances
• Assist with moderating a student club.
• Seek opportunities to participate on committees and otherwise contribute to the life of the school.
• Other duties as assigned, including but not limited to:
  • Represent College Counseling Program at school events, including fall Open House
  • If bilingual, assist with translating documents and during parent meetings
  • Substitute teach as requested by school leadership.

Qualifications, Skills, and Characteristics

Successful applicants will embody mission-alignment, openness to growth, commitment to equity, attention to detail, resilience, results orientation, optimism, determination and zest. In addition, they will meet or exceed the following requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher.
• Expertise in the college admissions and financial aid processes and college opportunity programs.
• Extensive knowledge of the academic, socio-emotional, and life skills necessary for college persistence, particularly for first-generation college students.
• Superior initiative, resourcefulness, and organizational capability.
• Proficiency using technology to track data and provide corresponding support.
• Previous experience with Naviance a plus.
• Fluency in Spanish and English is strongly preferred.
• Teaching experience a plus.
• Willingness and availability to work occasional evenings and weekends.
• School Counseling or similar licensure, or demonstrable progress towards obtaining licensure, a plus.

Apply

To apply, submit all of the following in pdf format (as one document, if possible) to [email protected], and include the position in the subject line.

• Resume with cover letter that articulates your interest in and readiness for the position
• Contact information for three professional references (email and phone number)
• Undergraduate and graduate (where appropriate) transcripts

Disclaimer

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School provides equal employment opportunities to applicants without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, sex, or national origin. Candidates from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.