The mission of Journey, our comprehensive advisory program, is to develop
each young woman’s highest potential, advance her leadership skills, and ensure
her excellent college placement.
The
Program
- Grade-level
weekly Journey classes
- Small
weekly advisee groups
- Biweekly dorm meetings for boarders
- Individualized
one-on-one monthly advising
- Quarterly
Journey Days focusing on topics such as health and wellness, leadership,
college and career planning, service, and philanthropy
Catalina Culture
New Students. For new students,
Catalina enculturation is an important piece of Journey. The newest members of
our community learn about our school culture, history, traditions, and standards
to ensure their smooth transition into Santa Catalina. We believe that
our core values of excellence, responsibility, service, and spirituality should
be at the heart of every interaction.
Boarding Life. For boarders, our
Journey program extends to the dormitories. Overseen by the Dean of
Students/Director of Resident Life, the residential advising component of
Journey focuses on developing integrity, personal responsibility, and courtesy
in the boarding situation as well as on preparing our students for college and
life. Through regular dorm meetings and one-on-one advising, boarding advisors
help students develop the specific skills needed to live successfully in a
community.
College Counseling
The choices and
achievements our students make while at Santa Catalina have long-lasting
effects — not only on their college possibilities but also on their career paths. Beginning in grade grade, our Journey program paves the way
for a smooth college application process by senior year. We believe that the
more fully each student knows herself and understands her deeper purpose in life,
the better equipped she is for college. A well-developed POINTS Portfolio
allows each senior to enter the college application process fully organized, confident, and able to pinpoint which colleges and universities are the best match for
her.
Leadership
At Santa Catalina, we challenge
every young woman to be a leader. We
believe that leadership is a collaborative, relationship-building process
guided by moral and spiritual values with the purpose of
improving our world and the human condition. The development of exemplary
leadership skills is one of the most important components of our Journey
program. Through it, our students learn about leadership through committee
work. Committees offer our students choices within Journey and bring together like-minded
girls based on their passions, skills, talents, and long-term goals.
They also give our students opportunities to practice the following leadership skills
in a nurturing environment: communication, organization, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, digital
literacy, and cultural knowledge and sensitivity.
There are seven committees formed
yearly at each grade level, with an eighth one at the sophomore level. Each
committee is led by a Journey committee head, a student leader appointed through an application process. Committee heads recruit committee
members from their class; every student is a member of a
committee and works within her group to develop goals and an action plan. Through committee work, students learn about having a mission,
creating a vision, setting down an action plan, and taking the steps necessary
to accomplish it. They also learn the importance of organization and
dependability, conflict resolution and diplomacy, how to delegate and problem
solve, as well as practical skills such as writing a proposal, creating
an agenda, running a meeting, taking minutes, working with different personality types,
and drawing on the strengths of group members in order to maximize a group’s
potential.
POINTS Portfolio
The POINTS Portfolio, something unique
to Catalina, is the tool our students use to map out and reflect upon their
journey to college and beyond. They record their academic plans, save important
self-reflections, log their activities and achievements, and archive examples of
their best work. POINTS is an acronym for Personal Objectives In Navigating
Toward Success. By developing their POINTS under the guidance of a trained
advisor, our students develop greater responsibility for their
personal growth and development and steadily prepare for the college
application process. The main sections of each girl’s POINTS are: About Me, My
Academics, My Leadership, and My Service.