On Friday February 3rd, juniors were dismissed from their regular classes for the important task of planning their future. Juniors spent the day receiving information about the highly anticipated college application process. After the vigorous information sessions, juniors were dismissed at 12:15.

The BSM counselors help lead the juniors through this day. They want juniors to feel prepared for the next steps in the college process. “I want [juniors] to feel like they have control over the application process when they leave. I want them to feel like they know what to do next and what to expect,” counselor Kate Berry said.

When attending Building Your Future Day, juniors receive a portfolio. This contains all of the tasks juniors need to complete in order to pass the College and Career Planning course. “We had a college portfolio workshop where they introduced to us what our portfolio is gonna look like and what assignments we have to do and complete in order to get credit for it,” junior Elizabeth Long said.

The day was split up into four main parts. All of them focused on a specific topic that helped juniors during the college process. “My group started off in the theater and they just did a brief overview about what the day was going to be like and what we’re going to see and who is going to be talking to us. We then had a portfolio workshop and then the University of Minnesota admissions representative talked to us about how we can choose the right college. Finally we met with a St. Olaf admissions representative and he talked to us about the whole admissions process and what they look for in your application,” Long said.

The counselors always try to bring in speakers from colleges that students apply to the most. “We have so many applications to the U of M so it’s good to get a sense of what they’re thinking about and what they’re looking for and what they want our students to be like. One reason that we’ve used St. Olaf in the past is because our rep is a BSM alum and she really cares about our students doing a good job on their applications,” Berry said.

The whole goal of Building Your Future Day is to prepare juniors for the challenging next steps at their time at BSM. “I think that the whole day prepared me a lot because they told me a lot of application and portfolio information that I wasn’t aware of before. Now that I’m aware of it, I could be more vigilant in what I need to look for and achieve before filling out my college application,” Long said.