For the eighth consecutive year, the Utah System of Higher Education hosted its annual statewide conference for secondary school administrators and counselors last Thursday at the Salt Palace Convention Center with approximately 700 attendees. This year’s theme was “College Knowledge: Start Now” focusing on resources and strategies to better support school counselors and administrators in guiding and advising students on preparing for college.

This year’s conference featured breakout sessions highlighting key issues of college readiness. Breakout sessions included:

• Guiding students to success in college math
• A snapshot of FAFSA completion in Utah
• Parent engagement and college affordability planning
• Creating a college going culture in a junior high school
• Advising undocumented students in their pursuit of higher education
• How to help students find the right college
• Using exploratory major pathways to guide concurrent enrollment QL math course selection

The featured keynote speaker was Dr. David Conley, Director, Education Policy Research Center, University of Oregon, who spoke about his research on college preparedness and how schools can help to better implement college preparedness when guiding their students.