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On Sept. 10, the counselors of NS introduced a new program called SchooLinks.
SchooLinks is a comprehensive college and career-based platform that helps students find scholarships, apply for internships, find colleges that specialize in the students’ area of expertise, and much more.
Less than four years after its launch, SchooLinks has over 500,000 active students using its platform. But even with its 500,000 active members, it still hasn’t reached the western U.S., and NS is the first school in Utah to implement this platform.
SchooLinks helps students in several ways, both inside and outside of school, but it especially helps students who don’t know exactly what they want to go into.
Counselor Ben Cox also believes the program can help students who struggle to engage with school.
“A lot of times [students drop out] because they don’t have a vision of what the purpose of school can be for them or what it can do for them,” Cox said, “but if they can see a career, how much it makes, and the requirements they need for that job, then they can explore those opportunities.”
Even though the program was introduced not long ago, it has already been a hit with the students at NS, especially the seniors.
“I think we’re very fortunate,” senior Ethan Barnes said. “For seniors, it’s a really good tool for college applications. It can be very hard when you don’t have something to go off of, and a lot of students didn’t have the opportunity before. So I think for senior year it’s a really good one.”
Even as a new program to the NS community, SchooLinks is trying to be as helpful and understanding as possible.
“So far, their training has been awesome,” Cox said, “and their support has been incredible, so we are getting what we need to get this off the ground.”
Even though SchooLinks has been a success so far at NS, implementing any new platform requires a lot of work. There were a lot of challenges working with a new program, and even with how accommodating SchooLinks was, there were still things that needed to be fixed.
“With any new program or with anything new you start,” Cox said, “ you’ll find that things aren’t quite as rosy as they’re painted in the sales pitch.”
Despite all of the challenges NS faced, SchooLinks is implemented, and administrators believe the effects have been mainly positive so far.
