On Monday, April 14th at SACAC in Little Rock, Arkansas, more than 60 independent school college counselors gathered in an affinity group led by Nancy Beane of Westminster School (GA), Marcia Hunt of Pine Crest School (FL), and Chris Teare of Antilles School (USVI), all counselors at ACCIS Founding Member schools. Given the 8 a.m. start time, the standing-room-only turnout was especially impressive.
Marcia called the session to order and welcomed everyone, then turned the program over to Chris, who spoke about ACCIS. It was clear from a show of hands that a majority of those in attendance did not yet know much if anything about ACCIS, so Chris provided a brief history of NAIS’s original College Connection Institute, NAIS’s decision not to continue with that program, and the meetings that had led, over the course of the past three years and with the support of NAIS, to the creation of ACCIS.
He further described ACCIS’s programming presence at NACAC last fall and NAIS this winter, and the upcoming Summer Institute, noting that all details and registration for “A Meeting of Independent Minds” at Kenyon College could be found at www.accisnet.org.
Marcia helpfully provided information on session titles, counselors asked questions about membership dues, and Jeff Durso-Finley of Lawrenceville School spoke up about why his institution, after careful study, had decided to become a Founding Member. Having, with some help, established where ACCIS had come from, and where the organization is going, Chris asked the group to consider areas where colleagues needed help, asking, “What do you need that ACCIS might be able to provide?”
At that point, Nancy led a conversation about a range of topics of interest to those in the room. A counselor from a public college prep charter school asked if her school could join ACCIS. Another counselor said that she could use our help in educating her board and the parents with whom she works, with a specific request for profiles of who is actually getting into the most selective colleges. Steve Soud of Bolles School spoke about new initiatives to clarify practices in the area of enrollment deposits that would eliminate the possibility of refunds. The open question: Does ACCIS have a policy on the matter? There was discussion about NCAA rule changes, consideration of repeat years, and the practice of “Special Review” that is required to sort out such situations.
The session concluded with a reminder to check www.accisnet.org and the collection of names and email addresses or business cards from all those in attendance, in the hope that ACCIS be able to proactively communicate its programs and fees more widely in the near future. When all this was done, it was all of 9 a.m., and we went off to attend a full day of SACAC sessions. Not bad for a breakfast meeting.