Resources

The Counseling Center provides students the resources and support they need to be successful. Grade-level counselors follow students throughout their four years. Two full-time college advisors assist students with scholarship and college applications and provide each girl with as many choices for her future as possible. A wellness educator designs social emotional wellness programs that are integrated throughout the school community. She provides education and training to students, parents, school personnel and counselors, collaborating with community mental health providers. 

Counselors hold quarterly grade-level meetings to discuss students who may need additional assistance and to identify those students who deserve special recognition for accomplishments. All teachers in each grade level collaborate on determining the practices which will best reach all students. In addition, counselors meet with every student at least twice a year to discuss college and career readiness.

Career Day
Each year, the St. Joseph’s Academy Alumnae Association and Counseling Center host Career Day for juniors and seniors. Career women, many of whom are Academy graduates, gather on campus to share their career experiences and answer questions from students interested in their professions. Career Day also features guest speakers; a panel of young alumnae who are current university students or recent graduates; and a career expo, enabling students to visit different table displays and talk to women in careers of interest to them.

Job Shadowing
Juniors and seniors spend a day off campus each spring shadowing professionals in career fields in which they have an interest. Job Shadowing Day is an annual event sponsored by the SJA Counseling Center. Students enjoy shadowing mentors in a wide range of professions, from healthcare to law, physical therapy to film, and engineering to sports management, among others.

To further assist students, free tutoring is available after school for science, math, English and writing. Academic counseling is also available. Peer tutoring in foreign languages is provided by members of the National Honor Society and Beta Club. Student-led sessions are offered between 3 and 4 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays in the library. 

New students whose standardized test scores are below the norm enter the Freshman Foundations class that helps improve their performance in the areas of reading comprehension, writing, math skills and strategies, study skills and computer literacy.

SJA’s Writing Center provides instruction, resources and support for all students to improve as writers. Peer consultants conduct sessions to help their fellow students improve as writers, becoming more competent and, as a result, more confident. After-school workshops are offered on a variety of topics. The Writing Center is modeled on university writing centers and is a place for all writers at any stage of the writing process.

The Math Interventionist is a math specialist who supports student achievement in the area of mathematics. She works in collaboration with classroom teachers to ensure rich and appropriate learning experiences as well as any extra support that students may need to be successful in SJA's math program and beyond. Her role provides individual or small-group instruction in a real-time academic setting to students who are struggling academically in math. 

We offer several opportunities for our students to prepare for the ACT in and outside of the classroom. 
• ACT strategies are incorporated into our curriculum and also utilized during our Test Prep Instructional Days throughout the school year. 
• ACT Gear-Up Sessions are offered on weekends in the fall, spring and summer. These more intensive test-prep sessions focus on strategies and practice techniques for each content-specific ACT test. 
• ACT Diagnostic Testing is offered throughout the school year and during the summer. Students practice taking a full-length ACT test in a testing environment and receive specific feedback on the areas in which they need to work to improve their scores. 
• Dean of Curriculum and Instruction Aimee Urdiales works with students to create individual study plans for the ACT and gives them resources for practice. 
• We provide an on-campus ACT testing day for seniors in October (during the school day).
• We provide an on-campus ACT testing day for juniors in March (during the school day).

Because their thirst for learning doesn’t end with the conclusion of the academic year, SJA students are encouraged to pursue educational opportunities offered by colleges and universities around the country. Counselors and faculty members are eager to help students discover programs which appeal to their interests as well as complete the application process. Among the opportunities enjoyed by students include programs at 

• Harvard University 
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• New York University
• Sewanee (The University of the South)
• Stanford University 
• United States Naval Academy
• University of Alabama
• University of Georgia
• University of Notre Dame
• University of Pennsylvania