50 for 50: Christopher Miller

Christopher Miller

Co-Director of College Counseling

Glenelg Country School (MD)

 

How long have you been in your current position at Glenelg Country School? How long have you been in college counseling?

 

This is my third year at Glenelg Country School and my eleventh year as a college counselor.  I spent my first three years after graduating from college working in admissions.

 

How did you get started in college counseling/admissions?

 

My career in college admissions and counseling actually started with a simple favor for a friend.  When I began my first semester as a student at Oberlin, I already had a close relationship with one of the admission officers because she and her husband worked at my high school for a few years and one day she asked me if I was free to help her with an evening “phone-a-thon,” calling prospective students and answering their questions about Oberlin.  It sounded like it would be fun (and it was!).  From that point on, the rest pretty much fell in line.  I helped coordinate special campus visits programs and events for the next few years and I eventually worked as an intern in the office.  I even had the chance to represent Oberlin at a few NACAC fairs.  It felt natural to try out the college admission profession full-time after graduation.   Still, there was a part of me that wanted to teach and work in a high school, and I knew that I would make that transition at some point.  So after working in admissions for a few years, I moved over to counseling.

 

What's your favorite admissions/counseling memory?

 

This is a really tough question because there are so many “favorites.”  However, here is a moment that stands out from two years ago.  After counseling so many students and attending so many graduation parties year after year, I finally got the chance to invite a few former students to my graduation party when I finished graduate school.  This was the first time that they and their parents had the chance to meet my parents and extended family.  It was great for me to see these two worlds come together (because most of my family lives in NJ and they don’t visit that much) and it was a lot of fun.  What caught me completely by surprise, though, was how complimentary and effusive my students and their parents were to my parents regarding the impression I made on them while they were in high school and how my counseling made a difference for them.  This profession is not one where you seek tons of gratitude, nor should you expect it, but when you do get it, it can mean a lot more than you can fully explain.

 

What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue leadership in PCACAC and/or NACAC?

 

Think about all of the advice that you give to students regarding leadership and start following some of it!  It doesn’t matter where you start or what you get involved in, you just need to be sincere about wanting to make a difference and start doing it.  Talk to people, ask lots of questions, and listen.  There are plenty of great people doing lots of great work.  They share the same interests you do and they want to work with you.

 

If not working in admissions/college counseling, what else could you see yourself pursuing? 

 

This is the easiest question on here: Acting!  I would love to be on stage or on camera working with other artists.  I acted in high school and I should have done more of it in college.  I would love to come back to it if I get the chance.

 

What's one thing that most people don't know about you?

 

 I was one of the founding members of a step team in high school.  Our mentors were all members of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and it led me toward joining the fraternity.

 

 What's a current trend or future issue you're passionate about right now? And why?

 

I am not sure if I can use the word “passionate” yet but my interest in this topic continues to grow.  Every so often, I see investigative news reports or documentaries that highlight disparities between the expectations of college athletes in their respective sports and in their academic coursework.  I find it particularly troublesome when some of the colleges and universities mentioned in these reports are schools we regard for having high academic standards and offering quality learning environments for all of its students.  In short, these athletes are being admitted to college to get an education and contribute to the social fervor of the greater community, but they are not graduating at high rates nor getting the academic, leadership, or career guidance necessary for them to successful in life after college.  These stories tend to hit close to home because many of the students at the center of these stories are young men of color, particularly African-American men, which are most often associated with recruitment for the biggest revenue-generating sports, such as basketball and football.  As an African-American male, I understand the history and the barriers that exist for my population to earn a college education (especially at low-cost to the family) and I think it is fantastic that opportunities like college athletics exist to afford these students the chance at higher education.  But I also think that we can do better as counselors and higher education administrators to make the recruitment of college athletes more transparent and legitimate by truly putting the student first and by giving them quality academic support and career advising so that their retention and graduation rates increase.

 

 

*** To Celebrate Potomac Chesapeake's 50th Conference Anniversary, we're highlighting some of our current members. Each week until the conference at The Homestead in Spring 2015, a new member will be posted. Interested in participating? Email Aundra Weissert at aweissert2@washcoll.edu to get started.***

50 for 50: Michael D. Carter

Michael D. Carter, Ph.D.

Director of College Counseling,

St.Stephen's & St.Agnes School

Immediate Past-President of PCACAC (2013-14)

How long have you been in your current position at St.Stephen's & St. Agnes ? How long have you been there total?

I have been in the College Office of St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School for thirteen years, the past ten as Director of College Counseling. I have worked at St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School for a total of sixteen years, the first three as a member of the history department faculty.

How did you get started in college counseling/admissions?

Having served in the U.S. Army after graduating from W&L and doing some time in the corporate world before grad school and ultimately finding myself at SSSAS, I was open to the possibilities of administrator positions. Joan Holden, Head of School, approached me after Brian Leipheimer (now Director of College Counseling at Collegiate School in Richmond and a former PCACAC board member) announced that he was relocating to Richmond. She offered me the chance to become a College Counselor, which I was happy to take. I have been in that role ever since. At the time, Lisa Pence was the Director of the College Office and I learned a tremendous amount from her in my first three years as a counselor. When she left to take on the position of Upper School Director at Holton-Arms, I moved up.

What's your favorite admissions/counseling memory?

My favorite college counseling moment happens each year in December, when students from my high school who graduated in June, return to visit and tell the members of my office about all of their college experiences as freshmen.

What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue leadership in PCACAC and/or NACAC?

If someone were interested in pursuing a leadership role in PCACAC or NACAC, my advice is twofold; volunteer and step outside your comfort zone. What I mean is this - volunteer, but be undaunted about it - don't just fill out a form, meet people in the organizations, start conversations, and be persistent about your desire to serve. Second, be willing to take on responsibilities that you might not initially feel drawn towards. Any opportunity to serve, regardless of the capacity or issue involved, is a chance to gain experience and meet more people in the field. It also creates opportunities in the future.

If not working in admissions/college counseling, what else could you see yourself pursuing?

If not in college counseling, I would be back in the classroom teaching history and coaching.

What's one thing that most people don't know about you?

Most people probably don't know that I am an avid waterfowler. Anything involving ducks and geese immediately gets my attention. I am very involved in Virginia Ducks Unlimited, an organization that supports wetlands conservation.

What's a current trend or future issue you're passionate about right now? And why?

The current trend or future issue that I am most concerned about is the rising cost of college and how that will continue to dominate the landscape of the college process. Access to a higher education is becoming more and more difficult and I believe that there is a polarizing effect on our campuses that is already taking place.

*** To Celebrate Potomac Chesapeake's 50th Conference Anniversary, we're highlighting some of our current members. Each week until the conference at The Homestead in Spring 2015, a new member will be posted. Interested in participating? Email Aundra Weissert at aweissert2@washcoll.edu to get started.***

50 for 50: Mike Oligmueller

Mike Oligmueller

Director of College Counseling, The Potomac School (VA)

How long have you been in your current position at Potomac School?

Three years

How did you get started in college counseling/admissions?

I was a speech therapy major in college, but early in my senior year, I realized that I did not want to be a speech therapist. I then wandered into the career placement office (which was what it was called in 1983), and a counselor suggested that I try college admissions; it was a career that required a bachelor's degree but not in a specific major. After applying for about 100 positions (not all in admissions), I got a job at Wabash College as an admission counselor.

What's your favorite counseling memory?

Having a student tell me on her high school graduation day that I was like the dad she wished her father had been able to be.

What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue leadership in PCACAC and/or NACAC?

Run like the wind! Show up and listen more than you talk. 

If not working in college counseling, what else could you see yourself pursuing?

Retirement.

What's one thing that most people don't know about you?

I paid for my first year of college with the money I made from raising and then selling a herd of pigs.

What's a current trend or future issue you're passionate about right now? And why?

The increasing difficulty of many families to afford college. I believe that higher education is a path to changing lives, and it seems that a larger percentage of students in this country, as a result of not being able to attend or finish college, will not be able to live the lives they may want to live.

*** To Celebrate Potomac Chesapeake's 50th Conference Anniversary, we're highlighting some of our current members. Each week until the conference at The Homestead in Spring 2015, a new member will be posted. Interested in participating? Email Aundra Weissert at aweissert2@washcoll.edu to get started.***

50 for 50: Audrey Hill

Audrey Hill

Transfer Counselor & Professor

Montgomery College, Germantown, MD

Retiring in 2015

How long have you been in your current position at Montgomery College? How long have you been there total?

I have been a Transfer Counselor and Professor at Montgomery College for 11 years. Prior to this I was a Secondary School Counselor for the Montgomery County Public School  (MD) system for 34 years.  On June 30, 2014 I will be celebrating my 45th year in education and I will be retiring that day.

 

How did you get started in college counseling/admissions?

I taught for 2 years before becoming a school counselor. In public school counseling, you are a generalist who wears many hats and college counseling was just one of many responsibilities I did in any given day. After my first year, I heard about a regional organization called the Potomac & Chesapeake Association of College Admissions Counselors (old name) and I attended their Spring Conference. I was fascinated at the amount of information I received from the workshops and amazed at the wonderful colleagues I met who were willing to share tidbits to assist me in the college admissions process. I was “on fire” when I left the conference and  I have been “on fire” ever since.

 

What’s your favorite admissions/counseling memory?

I have had many memorable counseling memories during my career, but I have a “blooper” PCACAC memory that I will never forget. After my first PCACAC Conference I was appointed Human Relations Chair for the organization. So for the next PCACAC Conference, I was invited to sit on the dais for the luncheon.  I was seated with Joe Monte on my right & a man I did not know on my left.  After the luncheon speaker the presentation of the Richard L. Apperson award was the next item on the agenda. Just to make conversation during this short break in the action, I (in my naivety) asked, “When did this Apperson guy die?” The man on my left said in a jovial response, “He did not die…I’m sitting right here”. At that moment Joe Monte broke out into this loud, hearty laugh, but I was so embarrassed I wanted to slide under the table.

 

What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue leadership in PCACAC and or NACAC?

My advice would be to get involved on a PCACAC committee. The committees are dependent on volunteer participation. Do not sit back and wait for someone to ask you to join, “just step-out” and volunteer for a committee that interests you. By volunteering you get to know the structure and culture of the  regional organization. This volunteer commitment could then lead to other leadership opportunities in the Regional and/or National Association.

 

If not working in admissions/college counseling, what else could you see yourself pursuing?

In September, I will be taking a course to become a Certified Lay Servant (Speaker) for the United Methodist Church. I am currently a Lay Leader and have been for 18 years. So, now I can give my full commitment to this once I am retired. Pray for me J

What’s one thing that most people don’t know about you?

A few of my close PCACAC family know this, but most do not. I went to college on a Golf Scholarship. I attended Morgan State (MD) from 1965-1969 and played on the Men’s team because there were no women golfers. In 1968, my junior year,  the NCAA admitted black colleges. But they only admitted Women’s Golf & Women’s Tennis. They did not admit the major sports until later. That year the East Coast Regional Women’s Golf and Tennis tournament was held at the University of Maryland, College Park. Participants came from Maine to Florida. Morgan paid the entry fee for me and one of our tennis players to participate. It was a glorious day! I won the Golf tournament and our Tennis player won the Women’s Single tournament.

 

What’ the current trend or future issue you’re passionate about right now? And why?

I have two issues that I am passionate about. The first one is the “Endless Possibilities” at Community Colleges. It took me to work at a Community College to fully understand the many opportunities afforded to students. As a Transfer Counselor it gives me great pleasure to work with student to achieve the goals they want to pursue. And by being the Transfer Scholarship Coordinator, I am extremely pleased when they get a scholarship to a 4 year college/university.

The second issue is the rising cost of college. This issue sets me in a tail spin. I remember as a PCACAC & NACAC officer going to Capitol Hill during our Legislative Conference & speaker to national legislators about this issue over 20 years ago. But the price of college continues to increase by leaps and bounds. Something must be done because families are encountering stumbling blocks along the higher education path.

 

What’s next for you this year, when you retire? What are you looking forward to?

As I have mentioned, I will be serving in the United Methodist Church, traveling and spending precious time with my 15 month old grandson. J

 

*** To Celebrate Potomac Chesapeake's 50th Conference Anniversary, we're highlighting some of our current members. Each week until the conference at The Homestead in Spring 2015, a new member will be posted. Interested in participating? Email Aundra Weissert at aweissert2@washcoll.edu to get started.***

 

 

50 for 50: Christopher Wild

 

Chistropher Wild

Admissions Counselor, Goucher College (MD) 

 

 

Where did you attend college?

 

Mount St. Mary’s University, Emmitsburg, Maryland

 

How long have you been in your current position at Goucher?

 

 I have been at Goucher for almost 2 years.

 

How did you get started in college admissions?

 

I got my start in admissions after working as a tour guide in the admissions office at the Mount. After really enjoying giving tours and meeting prospective students and their families, I decided I wanted to take on more of a leadership role and applied to be a Mount Ambassador Coordinator. In this role, along with 3 other students, I led the tour guide program and took on a semi-professional role in the office. We were given the responsibility of running the Sunday Visit program. It was a completely student-led program; we coordinated the logistics of the day, the registration process, gave a full one-hour presentation and then coordinated student-led campus tours.  During the day of the program, this event repeats itself so we actually did double of everything, one session at 1pm and the next at 2:30pm. As graduation approached, I was hooked! I knew I wanted to go into college admissions. I even pursued an honor’s thesis on the evolving marketing techniques of college admissions, with a special emphasis on social media and the widely “popular” quick response codes. (Whatever happened to those?) After graduation, I sought positions at schools similar to my experience at the Mount and ultimately found Goucher College, where I have been ever since. 

 

What's your next step in admissions? Where do you see yourself going?

 

The future can be a scary thing, but there will be one constant for me going into it, and that is admissions. I ultimately see myself moving up the ladder so to speak to become an assistant director and maybe one day a director. I could also see myself moving out of the role of admissions counselor and moving more to an admissions communications/marketing role. I would one day love to return to my alma mater and work in admissions at the Mount.

 

What's your favorite admissions memory?

 

That’s a really tough question; there have been many memorable moments. I can narrow it down to two. My first is presenting at the Fall 2011 Maryland College Student Personnel Association (MCPA) conference with my mentor, Eddie Wright. It was my first time presenting at a conference and the topic, “Creating the Next Generation of Admissions Professionals”, was a cool way to reflect on the program that brought me to the admissions profession. My second would be creating and producing my first video chat. I came up with the idea in shower, developed it on my commute to work, pitched it to my VP, got it approved and then went about finalizing the details all in the same day. Billed as #GoucherAMA, a Reddit style video chat, it was my first attempt at bringing video into the fold as a marketing component for our office, something I had been trying to do since my arrival to Goucher. 

 

If not working in admissions, what else could you see yourself pursuing?

 

That’s another tough question. I really don’t know that I could see myself doing anything else. Working in admissions really doesn’t feel like work, it is just another part of who I am. I guess if I really had to have another job, it would be working in some capacity for the Baltimore Orioles. I have been a diehard fan since birth and plan on becoming an usher at the stadium once I retire.

 

What's one thing that most people don't know about you?

 

I would say the one thing that most people don't know about me is that I am a HUGE fan of karaoke. It just takes the right amount of liquid courage to get me on stage. :)

 

What's a current trend or future issue you're passionate about right now? And why?

 

An issue that I am really passionate about right now is gapping in financial aid packages. As college prices have continued to climb, more and more merit aid is being dished out to attract students with higher academic qualifications. I worry that students who may be great fits for certain colleges are having their choices limited by financial constraint. In an ideal world, I would love to see the discontinuation of “merit” scholarships for a system that awards aid based solely on need.

 

*** To Celebrate Potomac Chesapeake's 50th Conference Anniversary, we're highlighting some of our current members. Each week until the conference at The Homestead in Spring 2015, a new member will be posted. Interested in participating? Email Aundra Weissert at aweissert2@washcoll.edu to get started.***

50 for 50: Kelly Farmer

 

 

Kelly Farmer

Director of Admissions, Stevenson University (MD)

2014-2015 PCACAC President

 

How long have you been in your current position at Stevenson?

 

I’ve been in my current position for three years and am closing in on 12 years at Stevenson total.

 

 

How did you get started in college admissions?

I was the first person in my family to attend college and like many other people I’ve met in our profession, being a first-generation college student inspired me to want to help other students navigate this process. I distinctly remember walking the campus of Ohio University with my family just after a tour during my college search and having my mom turn to me and say something close to, “I could see you being a tour guide wherever you go to school. I think you’d be happy to go to college and never leave.” Whether she was prescient, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, I succumbed to the power of suggestion, or she just knew me too well, that’s exactly what happened. It’s a fairly traditional college admissions story, I suppose. I’m a proud alumna of the University of Maryland where I was honored to be selected for Maryland Images, the volunteer student ambassador organization, at the end of my freshman year. I loved talking with the students and families so much that I started asking the staff about other ways to get involved with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions (OUA). They hired me as a student worker, but treated me like a colleague. They gave me great opportunities to learn and helped me realize that admissions was something I could do as a career and love. I’m so grateful to that Maryland OUA staff for the way they launched me into this profession and think about it all the time when working with my students now.

 

What's your favorite admissions memory?

 

There are lots of things about admissions that sustain me on a day-to-day basis, but all my favorite memories revolve around our professional community. The people who choose to do this work are energetic, bright, fascinating, and talented ‘people people’ and I love spending time with you. So – my two favorite admissions memories are being part of the Local Arrangements Committee for the 2009 NACAC Conference in Baltimore with those infamous crab hats (so fun to host NACAC in my own city!) and the four years I spent as a co-host on the Maryland Crab Crawl counselor tour. Hosting 50+ college counselors on a 5-day bus tour of 11 colleges is exhausting, but so much fun.    

 

What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue leadership in PCACAC and/or NACAC?

 

Dive right in and don’t be shy about your interest! Pursue the work and leadership will follow. Volunteer for a committee (conference planning was how I first got involved) and learn more about the work we do. Take on a project and show you’re committed to it. Do some grunt work and do it well and it won’t take long for people to ask what else you might like to do.

 

If not working in admissions, what else could you see yourself pursuing?

 

I majored in journalism and public relations as an undergrad and thought about going into PR for a non-profit organization after college if I didn’t go into admissions. I have a number of friends with very successful careers in corporate communications. Mainly, though, I love learning and I think no matter what my work would be connected to education somehow. When I was a kid I wanted to go to law school and that’s still something I think about doing one day – higher ed law was one of my favorite classes in grad school. My master’s thesis was on perceptions of cost in higher education and I could see myself getting a PhD. in economics because I’d love to dig into the finance of higher education from a purely econometric perspective. Taking either of those backgrounds into a career with a higher education policy group or into higher ed consulting is something that could possibly appeal to me. If I had any talent whatsoever, though, I’d parlay those 12 years of tap and jazz lessons I took as a kid into a career as a Broadway performer.    

 

What's one thing that most people don't know about you?

 

The worst kept secret about me is that I have a black belt in Tang Soo Do, a Korean martial art. I took a beginning martial arts class my senior year of college and earned my first-degree black belt when I was 24. I’m not training toward a second degree, but I keep my skills up enough to allow me to teach four classes one night a week at my studio.

 

What's a current trend or future issue you're passionate about right now?

 

There’s nothing more pressing on my mind than affordability and financial access to a college education. Tuition prices are rising far faster than inflation or family incomes, the Pell Grant program has lost almost all of the purchasing power it once had, and sticker prices are so out of sync with actual costs that it is nearly impossible for families to understand which schools will be a financial reality once they get to the end of the process. If students don’t have access to a knowledgeable school counselor with time to help them, they are lost. A handful of our most elite universities have an endowment and student base that allows them to be both need-blind and meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. The rest don’t have this luxury. This isn’t just an issue in private higher education, either. States all across the nation are essentially divesting their interest in public higher education. It worries me that higher education is coming to be seen as a private good where the benefits accrue to the individual rather than a public good where benefits accrue to society. As a private good, higher education doesn’t deserve to be funded. As a public good, it does.

*** To Celebrate Potomac Chesapeake's 50th Conference Anniversary, we're highlighting some of our current members. Each week until the conference at The Homestead in Spring 2015, a new member will be posted. Interested in participating? Email Aundra Weissert at aweissert2@washcoll.edu to get started.***