Helping students find their path to college used to be a dream job for ETS advisor Ms. Edith Gonzalez.  But like many organizations and groups, she has been stopped from doing activities she would usually put into place. This year, she has been forced to look for alternative ways or stop the activity.

Gonzalez, who has been working at Greeley West since 2018, helping ETS students with their academics and school involvement throughout the year.  Part of her job is to provide students with workshops and college visits.  One-one-one conversations with students also look very different in 2020. She has been trying to come up with ways she can still meet with her students, but space is limited in the Future Center and she doesn’t want students missing class when they are only in-person twice a week. 

Dream Team workshops are activities hosted in breakout rooms where students from all grades meet the advisor and go over certain information combined with fun activities. Since the school is divided into cohorts it has made it more difficult for people to interact. “I can’t mix cohorts or pull students from class since they are very limited on time,” Gonzalez explained. 

 This virus has stopped many plans for teachers and students like inside and outside of school, but there are ways around around isolation.  Gonzalez  is still communicating with the Dream Team community and helping her students with academic support.  She is hosting Zoom meetings to talk about the students’ future goals and ways that she can help. For juniors and seniors, Gonzalez has found first and fourth hour off hours easier times to host one-on-one meetings. 

Gonzalez continues to provide future college students encouragement in these difficult times. She pushes students to keep their college searches on track and to do online tours to get their answers.