the Argus

Bel Air’s Overachieving Counselors
Written by Rebecca Saavedra
January 27, 2009 | Category: Features

With a 2,000-plus student population to look after, Bel Air’s six school counselors have a tough job, which most of students take advantage of. Along with helping students take the right classes to earn required credits, counselors also help with any problems dealing with home life or when students are at school. Most importantly, counselors also help students prepare for college and push them to sign up for any SAT or ACT prep classes.

If a student does not believe that college is for them one of our six counselors, James Coblentz, Pat Almieda, Manuel Hidalgo, Laura Likarish, Linda Lopez, or Rosie Mota is willing to help that student plan for their future and find an alternative to going to college.

Each counselor is in charge of one of Bel Air’s five academies and it’s students. Lopez is the counselor for the Fine Arts Academy, Lickerish is the counselor for the Health Sciences Academy, Almeida is counselor for the Business and Technology Academy, and Hidalgo is the counselor for the Professional and Public Service Academy. Coblentz is Bel Air’s head counselor and can be found in the Hamilton Go Center most of the time helping students apply to college and financial aid.

As students at Bel Air, we are very fortunate to have this amazing team of counselors to help us succeed after graduating from high school. Gratitude should go out to our counselors for pushing us to do our best.