We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Regina Gerrato-Greenhaus a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Regina , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I have always been passionate about working with children. As a teen, I became a camp counselor and a preschool teacher. While I loved working with kids in these settings, I found it challenging to be effective in the large group setting. I quickly learned that I did my best work one-on-one with kids. I soon realized I was interested in studying adolescent and child psychology. After completing my undergraduate education, I moved on to graduate school and completed a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology. I worked for various non—profits after graduation and then with Children’s Hospital outpatient services. After having a child, I took a leave of absence from my profession. Fast forward several years later, I volunteered with first-generation high school students in their senior year of high school. I started as a homework tutor and then began helping the student’s research colleges and coaching them through the college application process. I spent an entire year reading essay books and learning everything possible about college admissions. After the kids received their decisions, I realized how gratifying it was to help younger people to achieve their educational goals. From then on, I began my post-graduate studies at UC Irvine and earned my college counseling certificate.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Greenhaus College Consulting is an educational consulting business specializing in working with high school students and young adults who are planning for college and career paths. We help them by narrowing down their interests, crating a timeline and coaching them towards their goals. We work with both undergraduate and transfer students. Our company model is: Coaching students towards success. Part of our work includes helping students to articulate their future goals to colleges and to discuss why a school might be the best fit for their intended area of study. Teenager make such huge amounts of growth between ages fifteen to eighteen. We watch them grow up and mature during the time we spend with them in grades 9-12. This is exciting for us as we watch them progress and reach their future goals.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Since I have a background in mental health that knowledge has been instrumental for me in helping students with anxiety to move through the college process. As a trained counselor I am fully aware of how to show students empathy and build rapport with them. Not every student will attain all of their goals in high school and it’s important not to compare oneself with others. While it natural for teens to want to be the best at many activities we know that balancing their commitment takes time to learn and kids need to go through a developmental process of building their decision making and emotional skillset. Since my former career focused on helping students with these very challenges I have been very successful in my work with students. For anyone who is making a career change I highly recommend post graduate training as a way to fill in those educational gaps.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
Greenhaus College Consulting serves a multitude of clients with various service options. We have a number of areas of expertise but within those areas we look for students who are excited about their future and want some help finding a direction. Not every student knows what they want to study in college and that is not a prerequisite to working with us. Students who are passionate about learning and looking forward to the next steps in their journey make for a good working relationship with a counselor. One area of growth that we are proud of is our work with sophomores in the college journey. Getting a head start is key and we see the growth in our juniors when they begin the process early. Many students will sign on with a counselor in grades 9 or 10 but not much work happens during that time and part of the reason is that counselors do not have a curriculum in place for students. We have included free webinars for parents and students to educate them on the process and the importance of engaging in something outside of your academic pursuits. Colleges look for students who want to make valuable contributions to their campus and we pride ourselves in communicating these ideas to high school students.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.greenhauscollegeconsulting.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php
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