Charleston Day School’s approach to preparing students for high school is not only focused, including mock interviews, test practice, school visitations and applications, the process is also highly personalized. “Leaving parents and students to fill out paperwork on their own isn’t the Charleston Day approach,” says Director of High School Placement, Andy Willits. “We support them, educate them, and help them through the process so we can create great options for high school.”
The process begins at the end of the seventh grade year with a “Preparing for High School” meeting with Willits and the parents of rising eighth graders. After students (with the support of their parents) fill out a form indicating their preliminary high school choices, Willits meets with each family over the summer to discuss school options. By August, he reaches out to those schools to get the students on their radar early. It’s that legwork and relationship-building that helps Charleston Day School eighth graders find the right fit for high school.
And the choices are many. Boarding school or local? Private or public? Does the student prefer a small school, an intimate environment, supportive like Charleston Day? Or, do they want some place large and diverse like Academic Magnet or Wando? Perhaps they want to embark on a family tradition of attending a specific boarding school. Based on a student’s goals, values and qualities, Willits will discuss the characteristics of the high schools of interest. He may even recommend some summer “homework” for students, researching schools that may be a good fit.
With so many choices, Willits works diligently to understand the subtle differences between schools, especially boarding schools. Because of high interest (on average 7-11 CDS students per year), each September many of these schools attend Charleston Day Boarding School Night to meet with prospective families. Past graduates have attended a wide range of boarding schools in locations across the U.S.
CDS graduates attend schools such as Andover, Asheville School, Baylor, Brooks, Choate, Christ School, Culver Academy, Episcopal High School, Ethel Walker, Exeter, Foxcroft, Kent, McCallie, Mercersburg, Millbrook, St. Andrew’s, St. George’s, St. John’s and Saint Mary’s, Taft, and Woodberry Forest School.
The relationships with high schools are important, but equally important are those with students and their parents. “There are a lot of hard conversations during this process,” says Willits, “so families have to be able to trust me. I have to be able to say, ‘I am not sure this is the right fit for you’ or ‘Have you considered this option?’”
In order to personalize the high school process for students, Willits makes an effort to get to know them. In addition to serving as the Director of High School Placement, he is a homeroom teacher, an advisor, and teaches two sections of 8th grade language arts in which he guides students through the process of writing their personal speech and becoming junior docents at the Gibbes Museum of Art. Willits also helps plan and chaperones their field trips and attends many student musicals, plays and programs.
Willits’ dedication to each student and the high school preparation process ensures they will thrive once they leave our gates, and year after year, they return to let him know that all the hard work was worth it. In fact, on average 97% of CDS eighth graders are admitted to their secondary school of choice. Now, that’s success we can measure.
