PROFILE:
Chloe Strickland ’17
Speaking Up A college counselor opens doors for her students through life lessons and a deep connection to Scranton.
Chloe Strickland ’17, associate director of college and career counseling at Cristo Rey Philadelphia High School, often shares a critical piece of advice with her students that she learned during her undergraduate days at Scranton: Speak up.
students go off to college and helping them get through the college application and the whole financial aid process is definitely heartwarming.”
“Always speak up,” she said on her afternoon commute home from Cristo Rey, a Catholic high school in the Cristo Rey network of high schools that serves students from low-income families in the Philadelphia area. “If you don’t speak up, you’re not going to get your needs met. I had a hard time doing that.”
The Best Fit
And, since her Scranton days, Strickland, who recently earned a master’s degree in school counseling and clinical mental health counseling from the University of Pennsylvania, has made a career out of speaking up for the nearly 200 students she serves annually at Cristo Rey, dedicating her professional life to meeting their present and future educational needs. “I’ve always wanted to help others,” she said. “Seeing my 38
THE SCRANTON JOURN A L
Although Strickland grew up in Scranton as the daughter of a University staff member (her mother, Sheila, is a records analyst in the Office of the Registrar & Academic Services), she initially wasn’t sure the University was the right place for her. “I struggled academically in high school,” she said. “I really thought . . . I wasn’t going to be college material.” Strickland said her school counselor at Scranton High School helped her through this difficult period by supporting and inspiring her.
