Allegra Giulietti-Schmitt is taking over this year as Niles North’s college and career counselor.

Giulietti-Schmitt was an assistant director of admissions at Bradley University in Peoria for five years. In that role, she visited both North and Niles West as a college admission representative. She then worked at Highland Park High School while completing her masters program in school counseling.

She says that her experience at Niles North has been “incredible” so far, noting that the staff, parents and students have all been welcoming and open. “The students have been appreciative, hardworking, generous and they have really big hearts,” Giulietti-Schmitt said. “[They have] such a wide variety of interests [and] it has been a pleasure to assist them in so many different paths.”

She advises the seniors to stay calm and focused on deadlines. “Set aside some time each week for the college application process and ask for recommendation letters early for thorough and accurate information,” Giulietti-Schmitt said. She also recommends multiple drafts for their personal statement/college essay and to take advantage of all the resources available to them at North, including the Point and teacher input.

As for the juniors, Giulietti-Schmitt recommends that they start researching different schools and to form an idea of which colleges appeal to them. She advises college visits to experience different environments and to determine what learning setting works best for them. Juniors should also familiarize themselves with Naviance and all the resources it provides, she said.

Some of her goals this year are to get acquainted with the student population and develop relationships within the building,  community and administration. She also hopes to reach out to many individual students and has started the process by speaking to English classes about the college essay and co-hosting a senior college night. She has already looked over scores of students’ college essay drafts, using her firsthand experience to provide feedback.

“I really want to make the College Resource Center inviting; I want students to feel that I am approachable whether they are seniors or freshmen,” Giulietti-Schmitt said.