School Profile

The SEED School of Maryland is a statewide, public, college-preparatory boarding school that opened in August 2008. The school educates and boards 400 students in grades six through twelve. The SEED School is an extraordinary educational opportunity for students across the state to receive a tuition-free, college-preparatory, boarding education.

The SEED School of Maryland combines a rigorous and engaging academic curriculum with life skills and enrichment activities to provide students with a thoughtfully balanced learning and living experience. Students and their families commit to a seven-year educational program that offers small class sizes, high quality teaching and learning experiences, mentoring, community service, and extracurricular activities such as sports and arts.

The SEED School is centered around its character values: compassion, growth, gratitude, perseverance, integrity, respect for oneself and others, and responsibility. The SEED School staff are in partnership with parents, families, and communities to guide and support student success. The school follows a typical academic school year calendar.

SEED Network

SEED is the pioneering national network of public, college-preparatory boarding schools, offering a unique 24-hour, 5-day per week learning environment. Our tuition-free schools, the first of their kind in the U.S., are intentionally designed to serve traditionally underserved students. Supported by The SEED Foundation, we operate in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Miami, and Los Angeles. The Foundation's College Transition & Success (CTS) team provides comprehensive support to SEED graduates from junior year through college graduation. SEED's success has gained recognition from media outlets like 60 Minutes and The New York Times, and former President Obama has lauded it as "a true success story." Learn more at www.seedfoundation.com.

College access and completion is core to our work at SEED. Thus, the College Counselor plays a critical role in supporting students and families with the mechanics of the college process during junior and senior years. SEED MD’s College Counselor must be highly skilled and able to administer the college exposure, search, fit, application, and selection process with students, while also educating families about the process. SEED takes a unique and impactful approach to college matching; we call it, “Right Fit”. Our deliberate and intentional work with college fit and match is extremely important to SEED’s college completion goals. Thus, the College Counselor is expected to have excellent knowledge of a range of colleges/universities across the country—especially those that proactively support college completion for low income, first generation students and have quantitative evidence of success in this area. As part of their work at SEED, they will be expected to master and apply SEED’s approach to “Right Fit” throughout all of the work they do with students, families, and staff.

The College Counselor will establish effective relationships with all members of the SEED MD community, while also working with leadership across all departments. This role reports directly to the SEED MD Head of School and will regularly interact with The SEED Foundation’s College Transition & Success (CTS) department based in Washington, DC. As part of SEED’s model, College Counselors across the SEED network and the CTS team collaborate to deliver seamless and high-quality college access and success services to students and families, and training to staff.

Essential functions and responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Managing the college search, fit, and application process for seniors and their families and educating them about colleges/universities;
• Providing personalized college counseling to seniors and their families as they go through the college search, fit, and application process; and leading one-on-one college counseling sessions with seniors;
• Hosting regular individual and group counseling sessions with seniors and their families in the fall and spring;
• Making informational presentations to junior and senior parents/families, while also hosting spring meeting with juniors and their families to prepare for senior year;
• Teaching senior college prep seminar in the fall, supporting CTS with senior college transition classes in the spring, and overseeing and co-teaching junior college prep seminar in the spring with designated school-based staff;
• Managing and coordinating the annual joint College Tour for Juniors with the SEED MD college counselor;
• Leading the annual College Prep Boot Camp for Seniors;
• Co-manage SEED’s Parent College Prep Academy (when in session);
• Using Naviance with all students and managing all weekly and quarterly reporting of Naviance data;
• Manage and maintain aesthetically pleasing College Center and bulletin boards that reflect SEED’s college success culture and approach to college matching;
• Managing the SEED College Data Tracker and weekly uploading accurate data;
• Conducting outreach to and meeting with all college admissions representatives who visit SEED DC and facilitating meetings between college representatives and students, while also serving as a liaison with college admissions offices throughout the year;
• Chaperoning SEED-approved national and regional college fairs;
• Writing college recommendation letters and reviewing recommendation letters submitted by staff, while also completing all school report (mid-year and final) forms requested by colleges, including evaluations of students;
• Working closely with the Family and Community Engagement (FACE) office to ensure that information about the college process is reaching families and they are being invited to all college counseling and CTS-sponsored events and meetings;
• Working with the SEED DC Principal and Associate Director of College Success at the Foundation to compile the annual school profile, as well as information on grade distributions in junior and senior seminar courses and courses offered at SEED DC;
• Working with the CTS team to maintain and share information on colleges, college guides, scholarships, financial aid, and paying for college; providing access to major scholarships;
• Staying aware of issues and trends in college admissions, higher education, testing, as well as keeping up-to-date with the work and findings from associations, including: the College Board, the National Association of College Admission Counselors, National College Access Network, Education Trust;
• Overseeing ACT and SAT test prep partnerships, course delivery and test registration;
• Managing Senior Transition Ceremony and the Senior Brunch/Lunch/Dinner;
• Participating in and co-leading all financial education and financial aid events coordinated by the CTS team; and other duties as assigned.

Necessary skills include excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong organizational ability, attention to details, and the ability to consistently meet deadlines. Experience in college admissions or high school college counseling, deep understanding of data, and computer skills are important.

The ideal candidate will have strong interpersonal, communication, and organizational skills; familiarity with the goals, objectives, and mission of school focused on college readiness and success for low-income, first-generation students; the ability to respond effectively to the needs of a diverse and student and parent/family population; knowledge of a vast array of colleges/universities with a reputation for successfully graduating underserved students within 4-6 years, strong academic programs, clear and fair admissions and financial aid policies and procedures; very comfortable with SEED’s approach to college fit and match.

Essential Experience, Skills, and Competencies

• Bachelor’s degree with an additional 3-5 years’ experience providing college access and success counseling in a school, community, or university-based setting;
• General knowledge of college fit and college match;
• Understanding of financial aid, including the FAFSA completion process;
• Experience with individual and group college counseling sessions;
• Strong administrative, database management, and records maintenance skills to handle confidential material;
• Excellent organizational and time-management skills, with attention to detail and accuracy;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills;
• Active driver’s license and ability/desire to travel;
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, with creative and positive energy for working with youth;
• Superb ability to work professionally in a fast-paced environment and with a variety of constituents;
• Strong ability to work independently and with a team while managing multiple tasks;
• Comfort with student information and customer relations systems such as, Naviance and CoPilot/Salesforce, and student information systems like PowerSchool;
• Commitment to the mission of SEED.