The High School Counseling Department aims to help each individual student achieve academic and personal success. The High School has 7 Counselors whose primary role is to assist students with any academic, personal, social or emotional concerns. Additionally, our Counselors play a large role in college and career counseling. All students are encouraged to see their Counselors several times throughout the year. The atmosphere in the Counseling Center is friendly and informal and the Counselors are very accessible. Students may drop in at any time – before or after school, during study periods, or at breaks and lunch.

Individual Counseling: The Counselors are trained to help High School students with school-related problems arising from academic, personal, social or family conflicts. Some common problems include adjustment to school, changing peer relationships, parental expectations and study habits.

Group Counseling: At different times throughout the year, the Counselors will conduct group counseling sessions. These sessions are designed to help students gain insight into their behaviors, understand their attitudes, interests and capabilities, and learn how to make intelligent decisions. Special interest group guidance sessions can also be suggested and requested by students (e.g., dealing with divorce, developing studying skills, adjusting to moving away, etc.).

College Counseling: The college counseling program at ISM builds on the self-exploration students began in Grades 9 and 10 with learning style inventories, personality profiles and career exploration. All ISM students are included in the college counseling program beginning in 11th grade when a student begins to meet with his/her individual Counselor to form a list of potential colleges. Counselors in the 11th and 12th grade work to build relationships with colleges worldwide so that students can make more informed choices about colleges that are “best fit” for their strengths and needs. As the student moves through the end of Grade 11 and into the beginning of Grade 12, this list will be refined and finalized, at which point the Counselor will guide the student through the college application process. Grade 11 parents will be invited to University Night, an evening program outlining the university selection process, before meeting with their child and their child’s Counselor in the spring of 11th grade. Students also have access to a number of Counselor-led workshops on various college-related topics, including College Essay Writing, The Common Application, Applying Through UCAS and Mock US College Admissions. ISM is fortunate to be visited by college representatives from around the world each year. Parents and students are encouraged to attend these events. Evening workshops are offered to parents of Grade 11 and 12 students as well.

Academic Follow-Up: The academic follow-up service is a series of systematic checks coordinated through the Counseling Office to determine whether the educational program is meeting the needs of the individual student. It may include regular progress reports, individual testing, individual counseling or consultation with students, parents, teachers, counselors, and administration.

Scheduling and Placement Service: The Counselors assist with the scheduling of students into classes. Students who experience academic difficulties in regular classes may be provided additional support services through the Learning Support (LS) or English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program.

Decision Making: An overriding theme of all counseling is to help students make good decisions in their lives. Whether it be decisions pertaining to personal issues, relationships, academic college or career decisions, we help students in developing their decision-making process and encourage them to explore all consequences and facets of their choices. Through this process, we also help students develop a better awareness of themselves and their strengths.

Responsive Services: Another role of Counselors is to respond and help students through any personal issues or conflicts that emerge over the course of the year.