Polytechnic School College Counselor / Dean January or July 2017 Polytechnic School, founded in 1907 as the first non-profit independent school in California, today enrolls 850 students in grades K-12. The mission of Polytechnic is to develop the intellect, talents and character of each student in a community of learning dedicated to academic excellence, personal growth and responsibility, and service to others. The school provides an educational program emphasizing creative thinking and ethical reasoning, challenging students to aspire, achieve, collaborate and serve. Poly is committed to sustaining its unique grounding in history and tradition, while embracing discovery and innovation. A range of diverse programs and students help make the Poly experience meaningful. The academic program is outstanding, and most students matriculate at 'highly-selective' top tier colleges and universities (see list below). At Poly, the hopes and dreams of students take shape throughout their formative years with plenty of guidance and support, in an atmosphere that encourages hands-on discovery, creativity, and analysis. Poly’s teachers (who number about 100) emphasize critical and creative thinking, leadership, ethical reasoning, and commitment to the community. Students acquire confidence in doing their best, and they develop the kindness and respect for others that create a sense of community that they can successfully extend to the outside world. This sense of community is a hallmark of the school. The term polytechnic, or multi-skilled, is reflective of one of the major founding themes of the school: that students should learn from activities that involve hands-on experiences. Students in the early years at Poly took courses in forging, basket-weaving, printing, sewing, and woodshop. Today’s students continue to benefit from the “hands-on” approach in such classes as wood design, ceramics, enameling, and photography. Students can be found using their hands to learn in virtually every classroom on campus, whether it’s planting a garden in the Lower School or building solar-powered vehicles in Upper School physics. The 15-acre campus features professionally-staffed libraries (the lower school library and media center contains over 20,000 titles with fully automated online catalogues), computer labs, and media centers, as well as a performing and fine arts center, large playing fields, and
two gymnasiums. Poly’s classrooms have big windows, physically and metaphorically, with arcades and spaces filled with light. The original school buildings were designed by noted architect Myron Hunt and feature his revolutionary “open air” school design. The campus has undergone significant transformation in the last decade resulting in superb, purpose-built learning space. Yet classrooms and courtyards continue to simultaneously provide a sense of openness and security, intimacy and community. The city of Pasadena is 10 miles east of downtown Los Angele, in the valley just south of the San Gabriel Mountains. The sub-tropical and semi-arid climate sees an average daytime temperature of 68 degrees in the winter and 81 degrees in the summer with very low humidity and good air quality. Pasadena is considered the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Philharmonic, Pasadena Symphony, and Pasadena Pops perform throughout the year. The city features multiple museums and The Pasadena Arts Institute and the Pasadena Society of Artists promote Pasadena as a regional center for the visual arts. Neighboring (across the street) Caltech presents a wide range of exhibits, performances, lectures and films at Beckman Auditorium, which are open to the public. The nearby Huntington Library is one of the foremost in the world. The city became well known as a center for scientific research in post-war America. Today the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the foremost NASA research center specializing in unmanned spacecraft and robotics. Major employers in Pasadena also include Cal Tech, Huntington Memorial Hospital, Bank of America, and Kaiser Permanente. As a part of the Los Angeles area, Pasadena allows ready access to all this extraordinary metropolis has to offer. The Position: The school seeks a college counselor who will also serve as a student academic dean, participating in the dean team, working with class officers, tracking student progress, planning interventions for students needing support, and fully participating in the life of the school. As a dean the primary responsibility will be managing a cohort of students, starting in junior year, in their undergraduate applications. This will include: ● ● ● ● ●
Working with students and families, Writing master recommendations, Coordinating with faculty recommenders, Collaborating with the college counseling team to plan and execute departmental initiatives and events, Teaching sections of the college counseling class in the junior and senior years.
A strong candidate will have an unwavering commitment to keeping students at the center of the process. A successful candidate will have exceptional communication abilities, including strong writing and public speaking skills, a capacity for engaging students in the classroom, and a teamoriented approach to the college process and its various constituencies. This candidate will have a commitment to guiding students with a wide variety of academic and extracurricular interests and abilities. And at some moments, this candidate’s most important assets will be flexibility and a sense of humor. Polytechnic School’s college counselors are active participants in NACAC, College Board, and ACCIS. They attend local networking events and travel to college tours and information sessions for secondary school professionals. These activities help the office to build and sustain a strong base of knowledge about receiving institutions and to connect/build relationships with their counterparts in college admissions offices. The college counseling team consists of three dean/college counselor positions (including the director) as well as a college counseling coordinator. The work is collaborative, relying on the skills and experience of each team member. While each dean/college counselor reports directly to the Director of the Upper School, the Director of College Counseling oversees the college counseling component of their work. Overall, Poly has five grade-level deans, one each at the 9th and 10th grade levels and three for 11th/12th. The dynamic is student-centered and collaborative. They work with other administrators to support students individually and as a class. The three 11th/12th grade deans divide the junior and senior classes and work with students over those two years. This model allows the deans to know their students gradually and well as they begin to enter the college admission process. The dean provides academic advisement to assigned students and helps coordinate grade level events and activities. Qualifications: At least a BA and a commitment to working with young people. They should be ready to become engaged in aspects of school life outside of college counseling and the dean’s office. A graduate degree, teaching or coaching experience, and fluency in Spanish or Mandarin Chinese are also desirable. Candidates should be fully comfortable with Word, Excel, Naviance, Skype, and student information systems such as PCR, Veracross, or FAWeb. For information or to nominate or apply please contact: Benjamin L. Bolte, Senior Search Consultant, bbolte@carneysandoe.com, 617-933-3430 (direct) / Skype benbolte. All inquiries are confidential.