Dedicated to the Success and Well-Being of
All St. Francis Students
Counseling Department
Academic Social/Emotional College and Career
Mission:
The St. Francis de Sales Counseling Department strives to uphold and support students to become academic, spiritual, and social leaders, through a comprehensive school counseling program that targets social/emotional, college and career readiness and academic success. We will uphold strong ethics and standards as we serve students from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, through direct and indirect services, supported through data.
St. Francis school prides itself on preparing our students for careers and college after high school. With a full-time college counselor on staff, each of our students are able to experience individualized college planning that suits them and their individual needs and dreams. Contact information below:
Mrs. Nettie Bockbrader
All Grades
Each student has a counselor that is assigned to them at the beginning of their time at St. Francis. Each of our counselors holds a Masters of Counselor Education in School Counseling, along with a state license. Please use the contact below to connect with them:
Mr. D. Ward Ensign Mrs. Haleigh Sharp Mr. Jim Mello
Grades 7-9 Grades 10-12, Last Names A-K Grades 10-12, Last Names L-Z
419-214-5453 419-214-5450 419-214-5451
wensign@sfsknights.org hsharp@sfsknights.org jmello@sfstoledo.org
Every year students can expect to meet 1:1 with their counselor; in addition, students will work with the school counselor in small groups, classroom guidance, homeroom lessons, College Vision, scheduling, or any academic coaching. Our counseling staff strives to foster a relationship with each one of their students throughout their time at SFS.
Guidance Department Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Jackie Vandemark
419-214-5449
What students are saying about the counseling department:
“The counseling staff always helps keep me updated on special opportunities I may be interested in!” D. Corson ‘19
“The Counseling Department provides lots of information so that we have everything ready to go for colleges.” Whiting ‘19
Academic
The St. Francis counseling staff works to help each student find their passion through rigorous course offerings and myPREP pathways. Each year the counseling team visits homerooms and meets individually with students in order to prepare the best class selections for each individual student. We offer 21 AP courses that not only challenge our students but help grow them into Christian gentlemen who are prepared and excited for college.
St. Francis is also a proud partner with the University of Toledo, to help offer our students a variety of College Credit Plus (CCP) classes, helping all students have access to earning college credit while still in high school. If you are interested please contact Mr. Jim Mello!
In addition to AP course credit and our University of Toledo partnership, our students earn college credit through DeSales University. Please contact your counselor for a list of courses that qualify for college credit.
Students struggling with grades? No problem! Our counseling staff is here and ready to help with a variety of ways to help you succeed! Our students can meet 1:1 with their counselor for a personal meeting, referral to the Achievement Center, link with the Intervention team, or a 1:1 meeting with the teacher and or parents.
Our intervention team is comprised of two licensed Intervention Specialists with a Master's in Education and many years of experience working with students of varying needs. St. Francis is proud to continue to provide an individualized educational experience for students of all abilities and differences. Please contact our team for more information on how they can help your student!
Mr. Ryan Titkemeier 01’ & Mrs. Rebeccah Achenbach
419-214-5452
Social/Emotional
Part of St. Francis’ four pillars is that we will strive to help our students become socially and spiritually driven young men. Each year students have an individual meeting with their perspective counselor. This meeting is specifically set up to be student-led and student-driven. In addition to yearly meeting, each counselor has an “open-door policy,” for any student that may need extra time throughout the year.
Our team specializes in brief therapy for:
ADD/ ADHD Challenges
Anxiety
Depression
Anger
Social
Grief
Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Etc
Throughout the year our counseling staff also works with our Salesian Leadership Director, Mr. Ricky Cicco, in order to bring important and impactful social/emotional topics to the classroom each quarter. These Salesian Leadership classroom modules give the counseling department and our leadership team the opportunity to collaborate and give the message and teachings of our patron saint, Francis de Sales, to our students.
Each year we offer a variety of student support groups. The groups are developed each year after our student needs assessment. Our needs assessment allows us to survey the entire student body to be sure we are servicing them in the best way possible and meeting each of their individual needs.
Group topics from past years:
Transition Group
Testing Taking Anxiety
Accountability Group
Teen PEP
Stress Busters
Divorce Group
At St. Francis we are proud to be one of the only schools offering FREE sessions with our on-staff clinical physiologists. This opportunity gives all students the ability to get long term mental health counseling right here at SFS without ever having to miss school or pay expensive fees. Please feel free to reach out to our administrative assistant to schedule an appointment:
Mrs. Jackie Vandemark
419-214-5449
College and Career
Our students are preparing for college and careers from the second they start their journey as Knights. Each and every year, students work inside and outside the classroom to build their college resume. Not only is our college counselor inside the classroom talking about the college process, but our whole counseling staff is devoted to bringing the college process into the classroom at every level from 7-12th grade.
Events:
College Application Day
Signing Day
Financial Aid Night
Junior College Planning Meeting
Catholic High School College Night at Lourdes University
Senior Night
With over 80+ different colleges visiting St. Francis each year, and many local trades we are a leader in providing students face-to-face interactions with the college representatives they most want to meet.
Each Senior and Junior meets 1:1 with the college counselor to develop and execute their individual college or career plan. With 100% college acceptance we strive to have all students accepted into a college or vocational program that helps them best follow their passions.
Naviance (Link) is our primary resource for helping students with the college process. This platform gives students and parents all of the important college information in one convenient location allowing them to have everything they need at their fingertips at anytime. Each year students are assigned quick self-evaluations that give them feedback on their strengths and weaknesses that help them narrow down the college search even more. By senior year, all of our students report having found a college, university or trade program that is a perfect fit! Many Knights are being recruited for sports, academics, gaming, and military appointments. With over 15 million dollars awarded for 2018 graduates, it's clear that our students have found very exciting and purposeful paths for after college.
College Vision:
College Vision is an intense college planning course taught by our college counselor and our school counselor. The class meets two days a week throughout the entirety of the year for high-achieving sophomores and juniors.