Mrs. McNamara went above and beyond the responsibilities of her college and career counseling position by working with students and parents after school hours, in the evenings, and on weekends to support students with their college and career preparation. She accomplished this in a variety of ways, including assisting students with college applications, admission essays, University of California (UC) Personal Insight Questions (PIQs), financial aid applications, resume building, job interview skills, and course selection and planning. She also taught California Colleges Guidance Initiative (CCGI) lessons and used career assessments to help students identify their strengths, interests, and postsecondary goals. Through this work, she guided students in exploring their options and developing plans to achieve their aspirations, whether that involved attending a four-year college, two-year college, trade school, joining the military, or entering the workforce directly after high school.

Mission and Values

Mrs. McNamara believes in a holistic, whole-child-centered, and student-directed approach to college advising and counseling that takes into account a student’s physical and mental health and wellness, family situation and challenges, academic history, postsecondary goals, and personal priorities, and creates plans and gives recommendations that are personalized based on those factors. Mrs. McNamara feels that a one-size-fits-all approach would not address the priorities, experiences, and needs of her students and families and knows that each and every student is different, with unique backgrounds and varying lived experiences, and believes that her job is to encourage and support her students and families on whatever path they feel is best for them. She is committed to creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community where all students feel valued and important and are knowledgeable and capable of achieving the infinite college and career opportunities that are available to them when they graduate high school.

College and Career Center

Mrs. McNamara achieved her vision of creating a central place where she could provide college and career counseling services by establishing the first formal College and Career Center for a local public college preparatory high school. The College and Career Center offered college brochures, college planning materials, financial aid and scholarship forms, job and internship resources, and military information. To make the room a welcoming and desirable space, she secured the donation of a couch for students to use and provided tables and chairs.

Mrs. McNamara maintained an open-door policy that ensured students had a quiet place to study, work on college applications and essays, ask questions, receive help, or simply relax in a supportive, friendly, non-judgmental, and inclusive environment. This welcoming atmosphere allowed Mrs. McNamara to develop a deep understanding of the unique needs and goals of many students and families, giving her the ability to tailor her recommendations and advice to best suit their individual circumstances.

The College & Career Center provided Mrs. McNamara with a dedicated space to meet one-on-one with students and parents to advise them on college and career options, discuss goals, and create plans for success. It also served as a location for workshops and presentations during lunch and after school, while enabling her to build meaningful relationships with students and write strong letters of recommendation for college applications, scholarships, and other opportunities.

College and Career Counseling Newsletter

Mrs. McNamara also created and published, for the first time, a weekly Counseling Newsletter that was distributed to all students and parents. The newsletter provided information about scholarships, jobs, volunteer opportunities, community service and internship opportunities, college programs, summer programs, academic enrichment programs, field trip opportunities, financial aid information, and the schedule for college and career after-school and evening workshops. It also shared specific and relevant college, career, and financial aid information to ensure that students and parents at the local public college preparatory high school remained informed about the opportunities and resources available to them.

Marine Corps Partnership

Mrs. McNamara also established partnerships with the local Marine Corps Office to offer visits and presentations that helped students learn about military opportunities and scholarships. These efforts led to five local public college preparatory high school students winning the prestigious College NROTC Scholarship, which covered four years of college at the institution of their choice, totaling over $1 million in scholarship funding for schools such as Cornell, UC Berkeley, Cal Maritime, and others. Securing these scholarships and opportunities for local public college preparatory high school students despite not having an ROTC program demonstrated the level of dedication and relationship-building Mrs. McNamara developed with the Marine Corps to showcase the talented and dedicated students at the local public college preparatory high school and help students gain pathways to college and career opportunities they may have never considered before. In addition, due to her active role working with the Marine Corps, two other students decided to enlist in the Marine Corps after high school, with one student securing a prestigious musical occupational specialty where he became part of the Marine Corps Band full-time. This opportunity enabled him to fulfill his dream of continuing to play his musical instrument after high school as a full-time career with good pay and benefits.

This unique opportunity showcased Mrs. McNamara’s commitment to helping fulfill all students’ dreams and goals, regardless of whether they led to college or not. Her emphasis was on promoting goals that prioritized mental wellness, health, happiness, and future job security, and she dedicated one-on-one attention and time to getting to know each student and family as unique and special individuals who were capable of making a difference in the world despite their challenges and struggles. Her goal was for students to live fulfilling lives after graduating from high school.

College Visits & Presentations

In addition to all the college field trips offered, Mrs. McNamara has also independently organized over 50 college visits and presentations a school year from colleges, universities, and organizations around the United States that are interested in recruiting and attracting high school students. Exposure to both in-state and out-of-state colleges and universities is very important so that her students can learn about places, institutions, and programs that may be a good fit that they were not aware of or interested in before.

Providing Access & Exposure to Diversity Serving Institutions

Mrs. McNamara believes in a well-rounded and student-centered college and career advising program, giving her students opportunities to learn more about different careers as well as college programs for specific cultural groups to which her students belong. She organized and chaperoned her students on various local field trips to college fairs targeted to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Latinx and Hmong students, and Asian Pacific Islander Desi American College Day at Sacramento State. She brought students to leadership conferences and other cultural and civic learning experiences, such as meeting city leaders and learning about how local government works at City Hall. She encourages her students to gain civic knowledge and exposure so that they are aware of all of their opportunities as well as their rights, and gain as many experiences as they possibly can so that they can make the most informed decisions when it comes to their postsecondary college and career goals.

California Colleges Guidance Initiative Lessons

Mrs. McNamara planned CCGI lessons for 9th-11th graders to take to learn more about themselves and their interests. The lessons had step-by-step instructions so students and teachers could easily understand. For 9th graders, the lessons were: 1) Interest Profiler Survey, 2) Work Values Survey, 3) My Experiences & Time Management, and 4) Introduction to Financial Aid and the Cost of College. For 10th graders, the lessons were: 1) Multiple Intelligences Assessment, 2) College 101: An Introduction, and 3) Career Research & Life Planner Lesson. For 11th graders, the lessons were: 1) Researching Postsecondary Options, 2) FAFSA/CADAA Overview, 3) Planning to Meet Deadlines, and 4) Scholarships. The purpose of these CCGI lessons was to prepare students for the college application process once they are seniors, to get them thinking about potential majors and careers, and to understand financial aid and the cost of college.

Zoom College and Career Workshops – Providing Accessibility to Working Parents

As part of her efforts to make sure students and families are knowledgeable about the college application process, the financial aspect of paying for college, and high school planning, all of which can be complicated and confusing, Mrs. McNamara offered 30 evening Zoom College and Career Workshops throughout the entire school year presenting important information to both students and parents on the following topics: Options After High School, Financial Aid Basics, Senior Year Checklist & Timeline, Scholarship Search Method, Winning Scholarships, Creating a College List, What You Need To Know About Student Loans, College Essays, College Budgeting, The College Application, Career Exploration, College Admissions for Freshman and Sophomores, CTE Options & Opportunities, Community College Options, Programs, and UC/CSU Transfer Information, Admission & Financial Aid Appeals, How to Create a Resume for College, Internships, & Jobs, Evaluating Admissions Decisions, Evaluating Financial Aid Offers, Transition to College for Seniors, Preparing for College Life, Financial Literacy Basics, Creating a College Student Budget, Freshman College Experience, College Admissions 101, Choosing a College Major & Career, Paying for College, CA College Applications, Private Colleges, and more!

Information on Available Resources

By providing workshops that address such a wide range of subjects, Mrs. McNamara has helped hundreds of parents and students better prepare for and understand the college preparatory high school environment, the college application and financial aid process, and what students can do while they are in high school to become successful and competitive candidates for admission when they are seniors. Mrs. McNamara understands that the system students and parents have to navigate is a complex, bureaucratic, and expensive higher educational system that is not set up for their easy understanding or success. Mrs. McNamara’s goals for these presentations were transparency in how the higher educational system works, knowledge sharing of the steps required to both afford and attend college, resource sharing, and ultimately enabling and easing her students and families access to critical funding, scholarships, and opportunities that are necessary for their students’ success and ultimate college acceptance and matriculation.

Application & College Workshops

Additionally, to be able to offer her students her college expertise in how to gain admission to top universities like UC Berkeley, Mrs. McNamara offered UC/CC/CSU/College Essay and UC PIQ Workshops during the school day as well as after school to help students with their college applications. By offering her expertise as a UC Berkeley Admissions Evaluator, she helped students stand out in their college essays/PIQ’s and applications to be competitive applicants for admission to UC Berkeley and other top universities. Mrs. McNamara has dedicated hundreds of hours working one-on-one with students both at school, after school, on weekends, and even during her Thanksgiving break, showing her dedication and commitment to ensuring that every student who wanted help was able to receive it and feel confident in the college applications that they submitted. These workshops resulted in a huge increase in UC and Ivy League acceptances.

Professional Development for Mastery of Skills

Mrs. McNamara believes deeply in personal improvement and professional development and actively works towards that goal of self-improvement. With increased knowledge of the college and career field, she has attended numerous conferences throughout the years to learn additional ways that she can best serve her students. As part of that goal, she has worked as a UC Davis Admissions Evaluator as well as a UC Berkeley Admissions Evaluator, gaining unique and important insight into the college admissions evaluation process. These experiences have allowed her to provide inside tips and extremely helpful and valuable information to students and parents about how to build four-year plans, create a schedule, select classes, and curate college applications and portfolios with extra-curricular activities that will make them competitive candidates for admission to UC Berkeley and other top universities. This experience and insider knowledge allowed her to help students directly for hundreds of hours with their UC Personal Insight Questions so that they could revise their PIQ’s and UC applications to be able to stand out among all UC Berkeley applicants. This unique experience and skill set make Mrs. McNamara stand out by using her knowledge to help students and families increase students’ college and career readiness skills and college acceptances at prestigious universities.