The Counseling Corner

Who are School Counselors?

School counselors are certified/licensed educators who improve student success for ALL students by implementing a comprehensive school counseling program.

School counselors help all students:

-apply academic achievement strategies

-manage emotions and apply interpersonal skills

-plan for postsecondary options (higher education, military, work force)

Featured Students

Counselor Spotlight

Mrs. Montes

Social/Emotional Counselor

Mrs. Carla Montes is the new SEL (Social Emotional Learning) counselor at Lompoc High! She can be found in the counseling office helping students deal with anxiety, develop social and speaking skills, as well as become leaders. The journey of Mrs. Montes started when she was 5 years old! At this age, she had already figured out that she wanted to go to college. She wanted to break boundaries and explore the world outside of Lompoc and was able to do that when she graduated.

Mrs. Montes, a Cabrillo alumna, had lived in Lompoc up until her departure to Pepperdine University in Malibu, Los Angeles. During her time at Pepperdine, she studied sociology and worked in the athletics department where she gained her own social skills and learned from the experiences along the way. After graduating from college, Mrs. Montes volunteered abroad to New Jersey, South Africa, and the Dominican Republic helping orphans and underdeveloped areas in the city. It fulfilled her passion of wanting to help others and making a difference in the world.

In addition, she gained organization, time management, compassion, and caring from previous jobs at Triple A (AAA) and in law. When she worked in law, she had a dilemma on whether or not to continue. Her family had a history of working in law and didn’t know whether to continue the family tradition. During the dilemma, her friend introduced her into counseling and she was immediately intrigued. She left law and was open to a position at California State Long Beach but had complications with travel and went back to her hometown of Lompoc where she now works at our school, Lompoc High.

Her meetings occur in her “office” which is a room decorated with LED lights, motivating quotes, a TV, and activities to help calm students down. She is open to work in groups or individually and she loves to see the progress that everyone makes each day. Her group meetings are 8-weeks in length. She describes the students being shy in the first two weeks but ends off the 8-weeks with everyone being best friends.

To meet with her, you can fill out a counselor request form in the counseling office or come into her room! Remember, she is everyone’s counselor and she is there for you.

Author, Helen Huy, Journalism Student

Evelyn Acosta

UCSB DCAC College Adviser

New year, new staff -- that’s the saying, right? Whatever the saying is, a new school year has come around, and with it, new teachers! A new staff member we gained this year is Evelyn Acosta.

Ms. Acosta was born and raised in Lompoc, California and attended Lompoc High. After graduating from LHS, she moved to Fresno for college and graduated with a bachelor in criminology and law enforcement. But she found her way back when she moved back to Lompoc last year due to Covid. She notes how she always wanted to help people and had originally planned on moving back to Lompoc to be a police officer. But, now she works with the University of Santa Barbara and comes to our school in the Destination College Advising Corps to help guide students in their college and career path.

She got the job at UCSB in August and she began coming to Lompoc High in mid-September, and although she hasn’t been here for that long, she has already met with over one hundred students this year! Her goal for this year is to meet with at least 300 of the 345 seniors and talk to them. “Seeing all the different personalities, I love it. I used to work with elementary school kids through the YMCA, and while being with high school kids is different, the innocence is still the same,” she explains.

Acosta expresses that what she loves most about her job here is, “creating bonds with students, going into depth of what they want to do after high school, and being in assistance and a support system for them.” She goes on to explain how, “a lot of students don’t have a support system at home, so I feel like honored, honestly, because it takes a lot to open up to somebody new on campus, so I feel really honored and I love that they come to me everyday. Whether it’s related to college or not. I just love being there for support.” In her last comments, Acosta advises students to, “apply yourself to whatever you can, you might just get it; whether that's for a job, college, you know, anything. As long as you apply yourself, the worst they can say is no.”

All in all, Lompoc High is certainly lucky to have Ms. Evelyn Acosta to guide the students through the confusing college and job processes. They can’t wait to see all of the amazing things she can do for the students and the school. You can find Ms. Acosta at the counter in the Career and College Center beside the library on campus, and she can help you with anything you may need.

Author, Donna Kemp, Journalism Student

Financial Aid & Scholarships

Students interested in applying for scholarships (AKA $$ Free Money For College), Lompoc High School works with over 50 local scholarship organizations every year. Last year our seniors were awarded over $136,000 in scholarship money. To find out more about the local scholarships offered to our seniors at LHS, visit our website at www.lusd/lhs.org and click on the counseling/scholarship tab. You can also visit our scholarship board in the counseling office to find out which local scholarships are currently available. Students are encouraged to check the board often as scholarships are updated regularly. Students and their families who are awarded a scholarship(s) are invited to attend Senior Award Night on Wednesday, May 12th, 2022.

Additional websites for State and National Scholarships:

www.fastweb.com

www.collegeboard.com

www.scholarships.com

Financial aid deadlines are fast approaching. Many states and colleges set priority deadlines by which you must submit the FAFSA form to be considered for the aid programs they administer. There is also a federal deadline each academic year.

California state deadline - March 2, 2022 for many state financial aid programs, including the CAL Grant A,B & C.
College deadline - Visit the school’s website or contact its financial aid office. School deadlines are usually early in the year, often in February or March, although some are even earlier.
Federal Deadline - The online FAFSA form must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Central time (CT) on June 30, 2022.. Any corrections or updates must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. CT on Sept. 10, 2022.

Find out more about financial aid at these websites:

www.studentaid.ed.gov/fafsa

www.csac.ca.gov

Important reminder: There is never a fee to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation Website:

FAFSA Website:

ASVAB CEP.pdf

What’s going on in the

Career Center?

The Career Center is located in room LIB-4 (next to the main entrance of the LHS library). You may or may not be familiar with the center..yet! Mrs.Lara (LHS Career Center Technician), Ms. Acosta (DCAC Advisor) and Mr. Cross (Work Education Program ) are all available to assist you. Some of the services we provide are:

-Career inventory test

-Job search/job applications

-Resume building

-Work permit applications

-Allan Hancock College Now! Program assistance (earn college credits while attending high school)

-College representative visits

-Military recruiter information

-ASVAB test on November 9, 2021, 8:00am in the LHS library, sign-up in the Career Center

-UCSB DCAC Advisor (post-secondary plan assistance)

We also provide many services for our LHS Seniors which include:

-College applications (Community College, Trade Schools, UC, CSU and Private Universities)

-Allan Hancock College Representative every Monday from 8:30am-3:30pm

- “Financial Aid Fridays”-Drop in on Friday’s to get help with your FAFSA or Dream Act application

-Scholarship applications

-Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara representative, “Jose Olvera” visits the Career Center twice a month to assist seniors with their SFSB scholarship application and financial aid applications

...And so much more! Make sure to stop by the Career Center (LIB-4) to keep up with events, with questions and to receive help for any of the services listed above!

See you soon, LHS Career Center!

Page updated

Report abuse