Meeting the Needs of Our Minority Students

Today and Tomorrow


Most high school students will, at
some point in their education,
visit their schools guidance
counselor to seek advice or help
planning their future. The
responsibilities of counselors
include the duty to inform
students about job and career
opportunities that don't require
schooling, as well as those that
call for higher education. But
what happens when some high
school counselors fail to provide
this information to all students?
2
I felt like my counselor was biased
about my ethnicity. Every time I went
to my High School counselor's office, I
was asking about ways to get college
credits while attending high school
because I had enough credits to
graduate early, but she wouldn't listen
to me and insist that I should
graduate early. My friend who was
Caucasian told me that she went to
My daughter had a terrible experience the same advisor office, but she got a
with her High School counselor when completely different answer. She even
she decided to go and ask about how had a chance to look at the
she can participate in the Early scholarships available for High School
Enrollment Program at Salt Lake Students that wanted to start early
Community College while she was college.
attending High School. The counselor
told her that she shouldn't try to enroll
in that program because my daughter
was still learning English as a second
language and if she decided to take
those classes she would probably fail
both high school and college. As a
parent, I couldn't let my child's dreams
be crush by some counselor that didn't
even believe in the potential that my
daughter had. I decided to fight; I
went to the principal office and talked
about this incident. My daughter is
now 18 years old and is about to
complete her master degree in Social
Work.
 The website My education, our future finds
high school counselors to be the key to
increase the number of students enroll in
higher education. Working with the Latino
community in organizations such as Peer
Mentoring Program Amigos Mentores in
Utah, I found that there is an immense
need to improve the services offered by
high school guidance counselors in our
state. I met a number of students currently
attending Salt Lake Community College
who have firsthand experience of this
issue.
Most of the minority students are
first-generation students that have no
other guidance besides their High
School counselors to advise about
higher education, training, and
careers.
Discourage from High School advisors
can limit students' choices and make a
huge impact on their future decisions.
According to Standard-Examiner
website, in 2050 Utah half of the
children will be from an ethnic
minority.
3
Monthly Cultural Training Sessions at which
counselors are introduced to
Sessions different cultures.
All students can freely express their
satisfaction or frustration related to
Anonymous their experiences with their
Suggestion/ counselors.
Complaint Box An admnistrator should create a
record and shared with the guidance
department.
Material needs to be translated for
parents and students who native
Meeting Linguistic tongue is not English.
Needs Meeting with translators for
students and parents to ensure that
they understand the information.
"The number of white children is slated to
decrease to 48 percent in 2055 when
35 percent of Utahs children will be
Latino, 15 will be Asian and 2 percent will
be African American."
- Center for American Progress, 2016

There would be no cost
involved because such a
program would take
place at the school.
The school can provide
refreshments.
Guest Speakers could be
volunteers from the
community or
representatives of local
community colleges,
technical schools or
universities.
4
These are my plans to improve
communication between high
school counselors and students. I
hope I can make a difference by
promoting diversity and higher
education for all students, which
can start by including our
minority students to feel that they
are valued members of our school and
society.
To help more minority
students attend college,
technical school, or
other job training
beyond high school,
thereby allowing them
to find work that
provides a living and
thus becoming tax-
paying citizens.
To meet the needs of a
globalizing world by
having a more diverse
workforce.
Contact information
Celine Fernandez
Phone number: 8018508637
Address: 3632 S Elk mountain Rd. Magna UT
84044
Website: www.fightingforeducation.edu