College Unbound

In this episode, we examine the College Application Process as a Metaphor for the challenges student face in college and in life. The application is the gateway to a student’s future. The complex process of applying is the beginning of academic and personal independence that requires all kinds of executive function skills such as Critical Thinking, Planning and Prioritization.    We discuss what t...

College readiness is a subject in the hearts and minds of students and their parents across the country. A Google search for College Readiness produces nearly 235 million results.  This is the foundation of the work Focus Collegiate does in the areas of Academic Independence, Life Balance (personal skills and mindset), Social Integration, and Motivation and Decision-Making.  Focus Collegiate Found...

In this episode of College UnBound, Focus Collegiate Founder and Principal Grant Leibersberger and Enrollment and Outreach Director Ann-Marie Stripling discuss the Focus Collegiate Summer Cohort and the importance of college prep.  The Summer Cohort is a three-week in-person college readiness experience in Boston designed for rising college first-years who need extra support before they land on ca...

Today our subject is Motivational Interviewing. In short, Motivational Interviewing, or MI as we might call it in this conversation, is an evidence-based communication model that employs empathic, active listening to empower positive change. Here is a longer definition from MI originators Stephen Rollnick and William R. Miller: “MI is a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with part...

Welcome to College UnBound Season Three, Creating Context for Independence. Today our subject is Career. Focus Collegiate uses the college experience as a metaphor for life, so while few first-year students are focused on life after school, it makes sense to bring career into the picture. Because, of course, college is just the beginning. Early career awareness among students helps them identify t...

Welcome to ‘You don't know what you don't know – An Occupational Therapist’s Perspective.’ Our guest is Registered Occupational Therapist, Brooke Howard. Brooke is the Clinical Director and founding partner at Skills for Life and is the Director of Transition to Adulthood at the Ivy Street School, in Brookline, Massachusetts. She has an MS in Occupational Therapy from Sargent College at...

Welcome to ‘You Don't Know What You Don't Know – A Learning Disabilities Specialist’s Perspective.’ Our guest is author and speaker Elizabeth C. Hamblet.  Elizabeth has worked as a learning disabilities specialist in college disability services offices for more than two decades. In addition to working at a university, she is a nationally-requested speaker on preparing students with disab...

Our guest, Liz Cooper, is an Independent Educational Consultant who helps high school students with learning differences strengthen their self-advocacy skills, navigate the college admissions process, and transition to colleges that will support their learning needs, thus enabling them to achieve academic success. Liz and her colleagues at the College Consulting Collaborative (CCC) college-readine...

What role will your academic major play in your life? This important question is one our guest recommends you begin to think about answering in your very first semester of college. Rich Davino, the Managing Director of Focus Collegiate, has been working in higher ed for more than 25 years and has a great perspective on what works, and sometimes more importantly, what does not work in higher educat...

Our subject is ‘You don't know what you don't know – A Disability Services Perspective.’ Our guest is Dee Singly. Dee is the Director of Disability Services at Ursinus College. She facilitates accommodations for students under the Americans with Disabilities Act. She has a B.S. in Psychology, from East Stroudsburg University, an M.Ed. in Counseling and Human Services, and a Ph. D., in Sp...

Today our subject is ‘You don't know what you don't know – A Counselor’s Perspective.’ Our guest is Kelley Challen. Kelley is NESCA’s Assistant Director and is the Director of Transition Services. NESCA stands for Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents. Her expertise is supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, she also provides support to indiv...

Today our subject is ‘You don't know what you don't know – A Therapist’s Perspective.’ Our guest is Andrew Larke. Andrew is an LICSW who has worked with teens and young adults since 2005. He is an experiential therapist working with clients in talk-based and action-based therapy. He was the regional director of a large therapeutic mentoring program for more than a decade and has been in...

Today our subject is ‘You Don't Know What You Don't Know – A Student’s Perspective.’  As of November 22, 2021, 14.8 million students are enrolled in college full-time.  Among adults over 18, college students make up 10.4% of the population. 3.2 million high school graduates will begin college in the fall. 69.1% of high school completers attend college in the fall after they graduate. (Fr...

Our society doesn’t often think of it this way, but the college experience is not limited to the student. A student’s transition from high school to college impacts the whole family. Parents especially play a very active role in the transition. And that role changes quite a bit over time. Our subject is ‘You don't know what you don't know – A Parent’s Perspective.’ We have spoken to expe...

Every college and university is different. Given the curve ball thrown by the pandemic, colleges have had to recreate the wheel of college admissions every year. Which means that what we don’t know we don’t know about the admissions process is constantly changing. Our guest, Eli Clarke, Director of College Counseling at Commonwealth Academy (a college preparatory school in Alexandria Virginia for...

Does anyone really feel ready for college? Todays’ guest, author Dr. Andrea Malkin Brenner gives us some answers. Dr. Brenner is a First-year transition educator and speaker. She was a professor and first-year college administrator at American University in Washington, DC for 25 years. Her published works include the Talking College Card Deck , and she co-authored How to College: What to Know Befo...

Our theme for Season Two of College UnBound is, “You don’t know what you don’t know.”  We consult teachers, counselors, authors, directors of DEI and accessibility offices, college readiness experts, parents, students, and our listeners about the most pressing questions college students who learn differently face as they transition to college. In this season introduction, Focus Collegiate Enrollme...

This week on College UnBound, our topic is the acquisition of life skills. Many parents, and many school counselors for that matter, focus almost exclusively on academic skills. While paramount in college, this focus is only one part of a much bigger picture. Research shows, that how students use information to solve real-life problems and manage their daily lives may be a better indicator of succ...

In this week’s podcast, we discuss the student learning profile. In the previous episode of College UnBound, we talked about the importance of college prep and how the Focus Collegiate Summer Cohort meets the needs of incoming students. Part of our ability to meet these needs relies on our understanding of each student’s unique learning profile.  Each profile is often related to, if not determined...

Preparation before college is one of the strongest predictors of future success; but many high school students look at college readiness in terms of simply applying to and getting into a university. Acceptance is just the beginning.  In this episode of College UnBound, we discuss the activities and outcomes students can expect to enjoy at our Summer Cohort. Focus Collegiate's college-readines...

A great deal of news coverage has been focused on students and teachers. This week we  focus on parents and how we support them. The early college years are an important time of individuation. It’s time for students to find and build their independence, to figure out who they are and what they want to do with their life. Staying home makes that fledging more difficult for the student. It also  mak...

This week our topic is Resilience. The pandemic has been a global demonstration of our need for it. Resilience is the ability to adapt and thrive despite adversity. We’ve seen how resilience plays out in business. Adaptation has become the key to business survival. The same thing is true for college students. The development and cultivation of resilience is one of the primary predictors of college...

Welcome to Episode 7 of College UnBound. Our topic of discussion this week is Self-Advocacy. The experiential learning model we use with our college students is focused on the long-term predictors of college success. Primary among them is self-advocacy. It is one of the core competencies that impacts independent living. No longer guided by an IEP, college students must seek out their own accommoda...

This week we dig into the Student Support Agreement which is an expression of each student’s Learning Agenda. While the Learning Agenda outlines what students work on, the  Student Support Agreement pinpoints how .                  Focus Collegiate's approach is based on student goals and student buy-in, without them, we and our students are nowhere. The Student Support Agreement ensures the...

In Episode 5 of College UnBound, we discuss the Learning Agenda. An integral part of the Intentional Change Theory at the center of the unbounded support we provide college students who learn differently, the Learning Agenda is our road map. Each unique Learning Agenda is the expression of how a student builds on their existing strengths while reducing their perceived gaps. Through honest dialogue...