DHS Counseling Department
The mission of the Dexter High School counseling department is to provide high quality, comprehensive school counseling services to all students. Our program, as guided by the ASCA National Model, is designed to help all students develop and enhance their academic, career, and personal/social strengths in order to become responsible and productive citizens. There is a commitment to individual uniqueness and the maximum development of human potential. Through the skillful use of strategic, timely, and personal interventions, counselors customize educational experiences in order to enhance capabilities, close achievement gaps among high and low performing groups and support positive choices.
Read more about our guiding principles, services, standards, and focus areas in our School Counseling Mission Statement.
Counseling News
2016 DHS Graduate Wins National Ocean Scholar Award
DHS Graduate Ryan McGinnis is one of four students nationally to win a National Ocean Science Bowl Scholarship for 2016.
Applicants submitted an application, SAT/ACT scores, two written essays, and two letters of recommendation. One essay was personal, describing their inspiration and interest in ocean science and the National Ocean Sciences Bowl. The second essay was a choice between two topics:
- choosing one oceanic feature and explaining its current societal impacts and significance to our understanding of the ocean, or
- taking a position on one of the current challenges in ocean management (their choice) and writing a persuasive argument to convince others to also take that position.
Each application was considered by three reviewers from various departments and backgrounds within the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. Reviewers used a rubric to evaluate each application. After all the scores were summed and averaged, the top four candidates with the highest average scores received scholarships.
Ryan McGinnis competed at the Great Lakes Bowl for four years as a member of the Dexter High School team. His love of the ocean was apparent as he participated in his school’s Ocean Ambassador Program and taught elementary and middle school students about cartilaginous fish and recycling. Reviewers stated that Ryan is extremely focused, something rather rare for a high school student, and has a very clear idea of what he wants to do and be in the future. His goal is curbing climate change and ocean acidification by creating a new and clean source of renewable energy based on cyanobacteria. Ryan will attend the University of Michigan and major in Biochemistry, focusing on marine biofuels research. During the summer of 2016 he ibegan studying these biofuels during an internship at the University.
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