As a senior in high school, the coming few years can feel a little scary. The choices–two-year college, four-year college, CTE certification, trade school, or the military may seem endless and impossible. This wide variety of options, combined with other stressors such as applying for financial aid, filling out scholarships, and touring campuses, can result in a muddled mess that makes the last year of high school something to dread instead of anticipate.
As a result, FCHS has a college adviser to help students navigate these troubled waters. This adviser meets with every member of the senior class (as well as anyone graduating early) to help them decide what they want to achieve after graduation. This service is not limited to high achievers and advanced students who want to go to a traditional four-year college or university. In fact, college advisers are placed in schools to help aid underrepresented communities and show that secondary education is possible for everyone. FCHS’s college adviser for 2024 is David Siddeley.
Siddeley will meet with every member of the graduating class and help them go over their options for the next few years. These choices range from how to get accepted into prestigious universities, to what path to take to get a Career and Technical Education Certification.
In addition, Siddeley is available to answer any questions dealing with the college admissions process, including how to complete the FAFSA, fill out scholarships, and ensure that every aspect of the application process is completed. He can also help with those who want to pursue a trade, either by apprenticeship or applying to trade school, or those who want to enlist in the military.
The position of college adviser at FCHS is unique because every adviser only works at the school for two years. College advisers are members of the Corporation for National and Community Service (also known as AmeriCorps), an independent government agency for national and community volunteerism. AmeriCorps requirements state that the maximum time each adviser can spend at a school is two years.
FCHS is also a part of VCAC, the Virginia College Advising Corps (VCAC) a University of Virginia program that aims to increase the number of opportunities for students in lower-income households and broaden the access to higher education. All college advisers hired through VCAC have graduated from college within the last three years, allowing them to work with high school students on a peer-to-peer level.
Siddeley graduated in 2021 from James Madison University with a Bachelor’s in Biotechnology. Afterward he worked at a hospital in Harrisonburg before moving to Charlottesville and becoming a lab technician at Martha Jefferson.
“After Covid, hospitals [were] on skeleton shifts…so after about a year, I kinda got fed up with it and looked for a new place to help people. And education was that route,” Siddeley said, explaining his transition to working in a high school. He decided to become a college counselor so he could experience working in a school before committing to getting a Masters in education.
As college adviser, Siddeley says his goal “is to help every student, whether it be college, CTE programs, or just figuring out what to do after school.”
For more information on VCAC, visit their website at https://vcac.virginia.edu/. For more information on choosing or applying to college, you can email Siddeley at [email protected], or schedule an appointment at https://calendly.com/dsiddeley.
