Welcome to the new school year - the Class of 2026's final on Hawk Hill!

A sincere thank you to the community's understanding regarding my bedrest and maternity leave. I am currently working part-time with a focus on the seniors until November 1st. I intend to continue working remotely when I'm off-campus until my full-time return January 1.

The change from required leadership classes to a true counseling model has had exponential benefits. For example, in one week at a part-time capacity, I am able to meet with each senior individually for 45 minutes at least once, in addition to their whole-class meeting. Previously those 45 minutes would have been shared amongst 20 students, ~2 min. each. Many seniors have also opted for extra meetings during drop-in hours as well.

Our seniors are working hard on finalizing their college lists, editing their personal essays, completing the Common App, and getting ready to click Apply! 

I have had the pleasure of strengthening connections with college representatives at a Minnesota Private Colleges breakfast, NACAC's Milwaukee College Fair, Universities of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Educational Fair, 

In addition, the following reps have visited our school and students: Denver University, Texas Christian University, Boston University, The American University of Paris, Iowa State University, Vanderbilt University, UW-Stevens Point, Imperial College London, University of York, Edinburgh Napier, and Purdue University. We'll round out the month with visits from UW-Madison and American University this week.

After visits to Grinnell College and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, we also took a field trip to St. Norbert's for a Laker alumni-led tour of the De Pere campus.

Finally, a Financial Aid 101 presentation was shared to ULS families and students ahead of the upcoming FAFSA and CSS Profile opening and our College Counseling program took part in the parent presentations, "Meet the Upper School Leadership Team."

ULS is featured in Milwaukee Magazine's "Faces of MKE" August issue -- read the article here!

8th-11th grade students selected courses for the '25-'26 school year. Academic planning meetings are always available and encouraged. During these meetings, we discuss interests and strengths, alongside the trajectory of the transcript. 

Sophomores and juniors have extra opportunities to engage with college admissions representatives, between school visits from Concordia and UW-Eau Claire to the Prairie School's college fair. In addition to the 40 schools who have visited ULS already this year, students were able to meet with: Arizona State, Beloit, Case Western, Colorado State, Creighton, Indiana, Iowa State, John Carroll, Loyola Chicago, Miami University Ohio, Northland, Ohio Wesleyan, Saint Louis University, Syracuse, Texas Christian, US Naval Academy, Iowa, Mississippi, UW-La Crosse, and Wabash. 

The grand finale of our NCAA intersession brought us to Indianapolis for a three-day field trip. Our first stop was at DePauw, where a student met with a coach while others explored campus and athletic facilities. Our second day brought us to Ball State, where a ULS alum and DI athlete gave us a campus tour and shared additional opportunities as a scholar-athlete, including an interesting conversation about Name/Image/Likeness. We then visited the NCAA Hall of Champions, a museum dedicated to collegiate athletics, before attending a March Madness tournament game between Illinois and Iowa. Before departing Indianapolis, we toured the beautiful Butler campus.

Juniors have spent the semester creating their own resumes, researching careers they're most interested in, and pursuing shadowing opportunities. Our annual Junior Career Shadow Day fell on the snowiest day of the year, so while many shadows were rescheduled, most students were still able to pursue a day in the life of a professional. Shadows included opportunities in: physical therapy, athletic training, higher education, nursing, engineering, law, fashion design, theatrical production, marine biology, surgery, media, real estate, and architecture. All students are encouraged to coordinate additional shadows throughout high school.

Meanwhile, with the assistance of our test preparation partners at Bespoke, we have offered our juniors a new opportunity this year: to try mock versions of both the ACT and SAT, then to make an informed decision about which test to prep for. With changes to standardized testing (such as the ACT dropping the Science section), an ever-evolving test-optional landscape, and different formats currently offered (ACT on paper, SAT virtual), students will be able to select the test that best displays their strengths. Afterwards, tutoring was provided for both the ACT and SAT. 

Our February Intersession took our NCAA group to Kenosha, visiting our only DII school, UW-Parkside, and an excellent choice for DIII athletics. We toured athletic facilities, met with Athletic Directors and student-athletes, and learned differences between the three NCAA divisions.

Early January brought Laker alumni back to Hawk Hill for our annual Young Alumni Panel. Current Upper School students were able to ask questions of their former peers and hear what life on a college campus is really like. Topics ranged from AP credit to balancing extracurriculars or part-time jobs and biggest challenges in the transition from high school to college. Student representatives from multiple universities attended, both public and private, in- and out-of-state. 

Our NCAA intersession was proud to host five alumni scholar-athletes as expert resources, in addition to two professionals in the sports world. Our day was spent with each of the following guest speakers: a Belmont student pursuing exciting sports management internships; a UW-Madison student who works as a Badger football manager; a University of Georgia and Flagler alum currently working in athletic events; and two student-athletes, one playing club soccer at UW-Osh Kosh and the other running Division III track at Lewis and Clark. In addition, we welcomed the marketing director from the Lake Country Dockhounds and learned about sports merchandising from local small business, Mid-City Sports. The goal of the day was to show our current athletes life beyond the playing field, and the countless ways to keep athletics in their lives.

Finally, one of our students officially committed to and signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer at St. Norbert College next year. Congratulations!

Applications are in! All of our seniors submitted one or more applications before the most popular November 1st Early Action deadline. This pool is non-binding and they will receive admissions decisions earlier than waiting for Regular Decision. We celebrated "Happy App Day" with a pizza party.

Athletic Director Julia McRae and Director of Admissions Kala Montoya are my partners for the NCAA Intersession this year. Students who selected this experiential, in-the-field opportunity will explore what it's like to be a student-athlete at the Division I, Division II, and Division III levels while simultaneously touring college campuses. We'll also explore sport-adjacent opportunities like managing statistics, sports marketing, or coaching. Students will also be introduced to the NCAA recruiting process. Our first intersession day was spent visiting Lake Forest College and Northwestern University in Illinois. Next up is Concordia, where students will meet with coaches and see a game as well.

School Counselor Peter Humphreys-Loving and I attended the Wisconsin School Counselor Association annual conference over the past few days. I enjoyed an all-day workshop on college counseling where new research on future jobs was shared (among other information), in addition to attending sessions on brain science, anxiety, confidentiality, therapy dogs, artificial intelligence, and bias training. 

Monday will be spent at Marquette for a special counselor's event where we will get to know the newest updates and attend a D1 basketball game. Thursday we will take a field trip to my alma mater, Illinois State, and University of Illinois and Illinois Wesleyan.

October just might be the busiest month in college counseling!

• We hosted admissions representatives from the following campuses: Dennison, University of Chicago, Grace College, Butler, Lake Forest, Puget Sound, DePauw, Northern Michigan, Purdue, St. Norbert, Knox, Xavier, Hillsdale, Loras, UW-Madison, Northwestern, Marquette, Oberlin, Carnegie Mellon, Providence, Fairfield, Elon, and Furman.

• Two college fairs were attended by some of our students: National Portfolio Day for art students at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and the National Association for College Admission Counselor's Milwaukee College Fair! Connections were made with: Cornish College of the Arts, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Washington University in St. Louis, and California College of Arts at Portfolio Day, and Mizzou, University of Minnesota, SCAD, Vanderbilt, the American College of Greece, MIT, Prescott College, and Columbia College Chicago from NACAC.

• I had the pleasure of attending events sponsored by colleges to learn more about each institution and share what's happening on Hawk Hill, including DePaul, St. Norbert, Beloit, Edgewood, MSOE, and Wisconsin Lutheran (and more!). Carthage hosted the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities on their beautiful lakeside campus.

• On Upper School Testing Day, 9th graders took the Pre-ACT and 11th graders took the PSAT/NMSQT. Seniors participated in a college essay workshop while international students had the option to practice English proficiency tests.

• Juniors wrapped up Roadtrip Nation, a book that offers pathways toward pursuing a passion vs. chasing a career. This ties in nicely with the NAIS Independent School journal article I shared last year, "Changing the Narrative about the Purpose of Higher Education." College is more than a checkbox, more than obtaining a degree, more than qualifying for a dream job. It's an opportunity to grow and learn and develop ideas about the world before jumping right in. This will be one of the topics shared at our panel in the spring.

• Seniors are working hard on college applications, with all anticipated to complete one or more before the preferred Early Action deadline. Our students are looking all over the country: Middlebury, University of Tennessee, Notre Dame, USC, University of Denver, UW-Madison, University of Washington, Scripps -- just to name a few! 

Chances are, if you've emailed me recently, you've received an "Out of Office" response; that's because I've been in the field and across the country making connections on behalf of our students! 

Mr. Dewis and I spent the week in Los Angeles at the National Association for College Admission Counseling annual conference, the #1 source of professional development for college counselors. 

• Right after our plane landed, I headed to California Institute of Technology in Pasadena for an information session and a campus tour. Cal Tech is a distinguished research institution that only matriculates approximately 220 freshmen each fall, so this school is for the die-hard STEM student. 

• On Wednesday I attended an all-day tour in Claremont visiting the 5 C's: Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, Pitzer College, and Harvey Mudd College. This consortium of five liberal arts colleges overlaps campuses, students, and activities. While each student is enrolled at one school, they are welcome to take classes at any of the other Claremont instutitions. Each has its own unique personality. Pomona is well-rounded but rigorous; Scripps is a school for women; Claremont McKenna emphasizes social leadership; Pitzer exudes a focus on environmental science and sustainability; and Harvey Mudd lives and breathes STEM. All of the schools are within walking distance of one another.

• Thursday morning we attended a breakfast hosted by Colorado colleges, especially connecting with the Colorado School of Mines. The NCAA Big XII then hosted a second breakfast where I met with admissions representatives from University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Baylor University, University of Cincinnatti, Texas Tech, West Virginia University, Texas Christian University, Oklahoma State University, University of Utah, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, University of Colorado-Boulder, Brigham Young University, and University of Central Florida, University of Houston, and Iowa State University. I also attended a session on the changing role of calculus in college admissions. The evening was spent on a road trip to wander the UCLA campus and Pepperdine in Malibu. UCLA is a picturesque, palm-treelined public school in LA County and Pepperdine is a private Christian campus in the mountains overlooking the Pacific Coast Highway. 

• Our last day of activities included a conference session on advising students in the arts and meeting representatives from international schools, mainly in the U.K. and Australia. I was also introduced to updates and services from ACT, ASVAB, College Board, Common App, DuoLingo, FastWeb, IELTS, National Student Clearinghouse, Niche, Pearson, Sallie Mae, Scholarship Owl, SCOIR, Slate, SmartTrack, Verto, and YouScience. I strolled over to University of Southern California's Family Weekend accidentally and enjoyed dining in the food court with students and parents. Finally, we ended our trip with a University Lake School alumni gathering at the L.A. Athletic Club where we reconnected with former students, friends, and supporters of our school.

While away, High Point University and University of Wisconsin-Stout visited our students on the ULS campus. High Point is an idyllic private school in North Carolina that prides itself on experiential learning and UW-Stout is the state's public polytechnic university great for STEM students. This week students will enjoy meeting representatives from Boston University in Massachusetts, St. Olaf College in Minnesota, and Union College in New York. This is also a reminder that this weekend Milwaukee is hosting National Portfolio Day and the NACAC College Fair. 

Today was the last ACT session held at ULS until the spring. If you would like to take advantage of another testing opportunity, refer to the ACT registration website for deadlines and locations.

Rep visits have begun! Last week our students hosted visitors from the University of Denver, Michigan Tech, and Lynn University. This week students have the opportunity to meet Lawrence University, Augustana, Grinnell, the University of Oklahoma, and MIAD.  

Two financial aid webinars are happening this Wednesday: at 6pm, I'll be hosted a Financial Aid 101 presentation for seniors and their families, and at 7pm 9th-11th grade families are invited to a presentation by SmartTrack about what parents need to know about paying for college. 

Although homecoming will be a busy weekend, I encourage students to take advantage of the two events coming to Milwaukee: on Oct. 5 from 10a-2p, MIAD will be hosting National Portfolio Day for those interested in an art major seeking feedback on their portfolios. On Oct. 6 NACAC's national college fair will be at the State Fair venue with over one hundred college representatives. This is a great way to meet admissions officers, demonstrate interest, and explore university options.

Behind the scenes, I have been and will continue to make connections on behalf of our school and its students. Last week I had the pleasure of attending a lunch hosted by the University of Alabama, and this week I will attend a workshop through the Universities of Wisconsin and a breakfast hosted by Harvard, Brown, Georgetown, Howard, and USMA West Point.