One hundred percent is a pretty remarkable success rate, and that is exactly what Sunfish Lake resident Anne Pabst, the co-director of college counseling at Convent of the Visitation School in Mendota Heights, has achieved. Visitation students work with Anne or her colleague Lauri Badar to find the right college match and, according to Anne, “Every one of our seniors finds several colleges or universities to her liking and goes on to attend a school of her choice.”
Fall is one of Anne’s busiest times: not only is she helping seniors submit their college applications, she also advises juniors as they take the PSAT exam and sophomores as they prepare for the PLAN, the ACT’s readiness test. This fall, Anne was busier than usual.
In September, she was honored at the National Association for College Admissions Counseling convention with the John B. Muir Editor Award, which recognizes the author who has made the most significant contribution to NACAC’s Journal of College Admission during the past year. Anne, a former English teacher, was recognized for her article “The Search for Sustainable Girls,” published in the journal’s Fall 2010 issue. More recently, she gave a presentation on “The New Face of College Admission” at the annual conference of the Independent Schools Association of the Central States in Detroit.
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Back in Mendota Heights, Anne and Lauri gave their annual presentations for parents of all Visitation Upper School students. This year, for the first time, they also spoke to the parents of Lower and Middle School students about Visitation’s college counseling program and what parents can do to help even the youngest children succeed in school. Some of those tips included: letting children have plenty of reading time, play time and unscheduled time; allowing children opportunities to experience failure and disappointment; and giving children the tools to solve problems on their own.
