On Friday February 3rd the entirety of BSM’s junior class experienced “Building Your Future Day” led by the BSM counseling department. The purpose of this day was to kick off the college application process and inform juniors of the steps they have to take to eventually attend a four year college.

There were a few changes from years past. The BSM counselors received constructive feedback from past students so they made a few tweaks to make it better and more manageable for students this year. “It started earlier in the day this year…we made it a half day…because we’ve heard in the past…the whole day gets to be a lot…it’s overwhelming and there’s a lot of information and I think that that’s true,” BSM counselor Amanda Anderson said.

When BSM juniors arrived at school, they were split into three color groups: red, blue, and yellow. Students then met with their alphabet specific counselor and then attended three different sessions throughout the day. The order they attended these depended on what color group they were placed into. “I was in the yellow group…I found it really helpful when Mrs. Berry talked to us through the day so we knew what was going on,” junior Peter Giertsen said.

The three sessions consisted of “The College Application”, “Finding your Fit”, and “Portfolio Review/Work Session”. They were attended in different orders with their color group. “The College Application session” was held in the library and was run by Shannon Cron, an admissions officer from St.Olaf college. She talked about ways to put your “best foot forward” when applying for colleges and shared what they are looking for in an applicant. She went over how to fill out the “activities” section in the common app and showed solid examples of common app essays to the students. “I’ve been thinking about ideas to write my common app essay on and the session where they went over some strong and good ones really helped me narrow down what topic to write mine on,” junior Ryan Baird said.

Rachel Tanner, an admissions officer from the University of Minnesota talked about “Finding Your Fit.” She shared the factors that students should take into consideration when choosing a college for example: cost, distance from home, selectivity, size, location, etc. Then she gave advice on how to narrow down your list, what to look for/ see on college campus visits, and also shared a little bit about choosing your major and or career. “In the presentation on finding the right college for you I learned a lot about what to look for in a college and what would make one a good fit for me,” junior Anna Lervick said.

Amanda Anderson ran the “Portfolio Review and Work Session.” She went over different assignments that will be due for all juniors on April 6, 2022 and then gave them work time to get started. These assignments include beginning a college search, starting the common application (profile and family section), creating an extracurricular resume, asking teachers for letters of recommendation/completing surveys for teachers, having a discussion with their parents about college, and attending the BSM college fair on April 6th.

For completing these assignments, juniors receive .5 credits and a pass/no pass grade and it is a graduation requirement. In past years students turned all these assignments online but this year the counselors decided to go back to paper portfolios. “We printed everything out this year again for students because we just found that it’s hard to navigate when you have all the online assignments for this. So we’re printing everything out and giving them a physical portfolio this year…to keep everything organized,” Anderson said.

The BSM juniors had a lot of information given to them and some found it stressful while others found it exciting that they are starting to plan out their futures in college and after college. “The build your future day was an eye opener for me…I learned a lot about what my future will possibly look like and showed me all the things I have to look forward to…such as my dream job after college,” junior Michaela Mergen said.