It might seem easy for a student to fall through the cracks at a school with a student body of more than 1,000. This is one of the reasons the Plymouth High School Guidance Department started conducting transcript audits for every student every year. On Tuesday, the annual PHS student audits started for the senior class and are expected to continue the entire week.
Guidance counselor Stacy Scheetz says that during the audits the Guidance Department literally relocates to the second floor of the varsity gym where there is ample space. “We sit down and meet with every student to look at his or her transcript,” says Scheetz. PHS Director of Guidance Aimee Portteus says her team of counselors wants to know whether students are on track for graduation. Counselors make sure students have passed all their Indiana Department of Education required Core 40 courses and find out what students want to do after high school. “If students have failed a class or are failing a class,” says Portteus, “we go over such options as summer school, night school or enrolling in an online class so they can take the course again and not fall short of their graduation goal.” The audit meetings are also used to schedule underclassmen for classes for the following year. “We meet with seniors right at the beginning of the school year in August to make sure they will graduate on time. Our support staff works directly with their transcripts to help students create a Parchment account. The site securely stores transcripts, test scores and other credentials. It also creates scatterplots showing college admission odds, using data from past Parchment users,” says Portteus.
Kelsey Flynn, who is the PHS College and Career Coordinator is on hand along with her College and Career Center Go Center team of more than a dozen student helpers. The College and Career Center at Plymouth High School, better known to students as the Go Center, began in 2017 after a yearlong planning process. The center was created to help all PHS students with college decisions, resume building, interview skills, job placement and obtaining college scholarships. It opened during the 2017–18 school year, but the Plymouth Community School Corporation has aspirations of expanding to Riverside Intermediate and Lincoln Jr. High over the next few years. Flynn says, “The first year we have been excited to see the interest and need among our students. PHS has a lot of seniors that needed help with financial aid and filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid form). A tremendous number of underclass students have come to get help creating their resumes, and students in all grades
have sought advice and information about colleges and career choices.” The Go Center hosts many college and university representatives throughout the school year. Reps meet with students to discuss college majors, costs and admission requirements. The Go Center also works with every military branch, so interested students can meet and discuss their desire to serve our country. The Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard and Marines are all represented and are available to meet weekly with students. Flynn sends e-mails to the student body on a regular basis, informing them of job opportunities within the community as well as upcoming dates when college and military representatives will be visiting the Go Center. Portteus says, “We love all the great work Flynn has done with the Go Center here at PHS, and we look forward to seeing how the center evolves in Plymouth schools. This is just another tool we can give students to help prepare them better for college and future careers.” For this week’s Plymouth High School senior audit representatives from IUSB, Ancilla, Ivy Tech, Universal Bearings, Valmont Industries, ITAMCO, WorkOne, Elkay Wood Products in Culver will be on hand to meet with students about future possibilities.
By Diego Guzman, Class of 2019
