Even though summer is behind us, ACCIS members are still reflecting on what they learned at ACCIS programs this summer.  Many thanks to Jennifer Kincaid, Director of College Counseling at Greenhill School, for her thoughts about the Northern California Colloquium.

Introverts and extroverts, thinkers and feelers gathered at the beautiful Santa Clara campus to learn more about personality type at the Northern California Colloquium this July.  As a long-time conference attendee, I find that it’s often tough for workshops to strike the perfect balance between providing theoretical knowledge and practical skills, but Gina Snyder, career counselor at St. Mary’s College of California, presented a workshop on the Meyers Briggs that managed to do just that.  By the end of the conference, we counselors were referring to ourselves (and each other!) by our type.  (“You know, as an intuitive, I just see things differently than you do as a sensor!” we’d overhear in the hallways.) I found the seminar to be both eye-opening and engaging, and I can’t wait to use the tools I’ve learned with my students this winter!

Additional workshops included working with Learning Disabled Students, led by Jane McClure and Jani Ross from McClure, Mallory, Baron & Ross Educational Counseling and Planning, and on Greening America’s Schools, where Paul Chapman (of Inverness Associates, formerly Head of Head-Royce School) challenged us to take a more proactive approach to environmental education. Case studies and campus tours at Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley provided even more firsthand knowledge to share with our students.

Kudos to Kate Augus and Michael Heeter for organizing a program that was both useful and insightful. The energy among attending counselors was palpable, and I left intellectually rejuvenated and inspired with new knowledge and skills. My first ACCIS Colloquia definitely will not be my last!