Last month, The Harriton Banner published an oped piece criticizing parts of the Harriton Guidance Department’s system for the college application process. Fall is a stressful time for Harriton seniors. It can be challenging to maintain steady academic work while picking and applying to the place where you’re going to spend the next four years of your life. In any case, these concerns certainly
have grounds in genuine issues. Ms. Carla Coleman has been kind enough to address
these issues, as well as any possible changes in response to last month’s article.

Guidance counselor Ms. Coleman (students with last names I-Mc) defended the Guidance Department from certain accusations, explaining that students have individual problems that cannot always be addressed on a general level. “It really has to be localized. Where exactly is the breakdown where a student
may be confused?”

In response to whether or not changes have been made in response to the article, Ms. Coleman implied none were made as of last month, but that doesn’t mean they are not sensitive to students’ needs. “We haven’t made any specific changes in response to last month’s article…but we’re always making changes….we can’t make changes because we don’t know where the breakdown is. We meet every Friday to discuss our kids’ issues…but there’s no one place [identified by students].”

One of the main concerns voiced by students is the fact that they aren’t informing students about crucial deadlines and important parts of the application process. Ms. Coleman addressed this concern, explaining, “Mrs. Newberg puts out emails. She sends it to you guys. The most important job for you guys is to open those emails. Also there [are numerous] documents that are here in student services to help with the process. Again, [we should look for] where is the disconnect as opposed to making an overgeneralized statement that we’re not providing enough information.”

Senior Jake Ohlbaum commented, “I have never had a deadline issue with guidance, but I have had problems retrieving information from the guidance department.”

Ms. Coleman points out that students must take responsibility to communicate specific problems. She is very confident that specific problems, once reported, can be worked out.

Although a lot of the popular concerns should be recognized, the Guidance Department has been at Harriton since its start and has had the same general policies, successfully sending hundreds of students off to great schools year after year. Obviously, they are here to work with students, and not against them.
Students, in turn, need to express specific concern they may have, the guidance department will work to improve their system.