By Mary Whitfill
Staff Writer

While many students spend much of high school questioning what they are going to study once in college, Family Connections by Naviance can help.

The goal of Family Connections by Naviance is to help juniors research colleges, find an appropriate major and compile a list of choice colleges by fall of their senior year. The program allows counselors to be involved with the student’s choices and decisions without having to meet directly with them, by letting them add scholarships to student’s lists and make college recommendations.

“The program helps people discover their college of preference, major and available scholarships,” counselor John Crook said.

A personality test provided by Human eSources helps students decide what majors and careers best fit their personality type. Once a student has decided on a major, a list of around 500 colleges is provided for them to do further research and choose.

“I’m very indecisive,” junior Tyler McGuire said. “So this program should help me.”

Once a college has been added to the student’s prospective list, information such as application deadlines, contact information and web sites are automatically provided for them to do more research.

“I have seen how useful it is to students and their parents in other districts,” counselor Debbie Fruithandler said.

CHS has been looking into this program for three years. Last spring, the counselors began to register 2010 sophomores, juniors and seniors using names, birthdays and student IDs. The program allows juniors and seniors to check their GPA and class rank. The counseling department is hoping to get sophomores class rankings entered by October. They are also aiming to add the freshmen class’ general information by the beginning of the second semester.

CHS has also paid to have a six week SAT prep course included in the program for juniors and sophomores to prepare for the test.

“This course will hopefully help me improve my score and get into college,” McGuire said. “I  really need help because I didn’t study for most of my sophomore year.”

Because the program is new, many students are not aware that it is an available resource. Juniors will be getting an introductory course through the computer lab while seniors will be shown the program in their English classes.

A link to the Naviance web site is available on the CHS homepage under the counseling, college preparation tab.