Benjamin Wohl '14 is spending the summer helping to develop new and better ways of guiding high school students through the college admissions process.
Benjamin Wohl '14 is interning in Washington, D.C., this summer for the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). For this internship, which is funded by the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship, Wohl is researching new methods of helping students get through the admissions process and focusing on governmental policy as a possible tool to help them.
NACAC is the national organization that represents college counselors and admission officers. One of its primary goals is to foster ethical and social responsibility while making it easier for students to pursue post-secondary education. The organization is made up of over 12,000 professionals from around the world and has 10 standing committees that work on a range of issues.
Wohl has been interested in college counseling and admissions for several years, but it was not until he began going to high schools and helping juniors and seniors though the admissions process that he realized that he really enjoyed counseling students. Part of his motivation for working with NACAC this summer comes from his realization that there is currently a severe shortage of effective college counselors in America.“I really wanted to work in researching college counseling further and lobbying to improve college counseling at a national level,” he says.
Part of his work with NACAC involves researching and disseminating“best practices” in college counseling and student recruitment, which involve finding the best way to attract students to a post-secondary education and the proper usage of social networking by students. The latter is becoming especially necessary due to the increasing presence of colleges and employers on social media sites..
During his internship Wohl has also represented NACAC at a number of events at the Department of Education and on Capitol Hill, including a policy briefing on the current state of federal financial aid and a presentation on the history of American federal educational policy over the last 50 years.
One of the most memorable moments, he says, was participating in the lobbying meetings that were aimed at stopping the Stafford Loan interest rate increase, during which he met with congressional staffers and was invited to the White House to hear President Obama's speech on the subject.
