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Counseling and Student Services
Working collaboratively in supporting life transitions, social emotional growth, health and wellbeing
Dalian American International School
HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH
At Dalian American International School, Counseling and Student Services provide:
- Exceptional access to our Comprehensive Counselors for students and families
- Guidance built on extensive experience across a broad spectrum of lifestyle transitions: career readiness, academic planning for college preparation, and individual student profiling
- Year to year developmentally appropriate programming individualized to meet student needs and preparation for exiting
- Assistance in modifying and tailoring students individual profile with guidance on extra-curricular involvement, summer programming, volunteer opportunities, and internship options
SUPPORT SERVICES
Counseling and Students Services at Dalian American International School provides social and emotional, academic, and learning support for all students. Students are guided through a year-to-year guidance program that includes items such as: social and emotional learning, academic success, and college and career readiness.
Comprehensive, developmental approach engages all learners to enhance their intellect, character, health and cultural awareness to participate in the global community.
The Dalian American International School Counseling and Student Services assists students in acquiring the skills necessary for personal and school success while guiding them through exploring transition items that parallel with their individual interests, strengths, and goals.
College and Career Readiness
Counseling and Student Services, beginning in high school, provide ongoing development support for students transitioning to college and/or university globally. The Comprehensive Counseling Program is developmental in scope, individualized to meet the needs of our students. Each year in high school students move from exploration to active participation in their college and career readiness journey. Services offered include student and parent information sessions, individual planning sessions, and active monitoring of our students' college application process. Our goal is to partner with our families in the hopes that our students find a second home where they can thrive in the pursuit of their passions, gaining the skills needed to build the lifestyle they envision.
Responsive Services
Counseling and Student Support Services provides support for our students’ immediate, continuous, or unplanned social and emotional needs. Counseling and Student Services emphasizes a collaborative approach in supporting individual students social, emotional, and academic needs encouraging collective action by mental health professionals. Consultation, learning support, counseling referrals, and information sessions are provided to our students and families as they cope with developmental transitions necessitated by life changes.
Individual Academic Planning
Counseling and Student Services coordinates ongoing activities designed to assist students in establishing personal goals and developing future plans. Individual student meetings and parent meetings are encouraged periodically to support our children’s progression through the academic offerings here at DAIS. Common topics of discussion include but are not limited to: four-year and six-year academic planning, academic success and study skills, social skills development and growth, and transition preparation.
Social and Emotional Learning
Students are provided ongoing structured developmental-specific lessons covering areas of health and wellbeing that are grade-specific and standards-based. Lessons are infused within the overarching K-12 social and emotional learning curriculum covering the four domain areas (academic, college and career readiness, personal/social, and intercultural competence) that are aligned to DAIS’s overarching school-wide learner outcomes.
Dalian American International School
ADVANTAGE OF KNOWING YOUR STUDENT WELL
Counseling at DAIS encompasses more than college and career readiness. Counseling at DAIS is focused on providing students with the opportunity to develop essential skills that will aid their growth and development through high school and beyond. Students are engaged in a year-to-year program based on the international school counseling framework focused on guiding students in honing skills needed for school and life.
We gain a full understanding of our students as we navigate them through understanding themselves, their identity and how they can make meaning connections that will aid them not only in school but as they transition to colleges and universities globally and beyond.
College and career readiness is one piece of a larger puzzle that we work on together with students and their families in the hopes of building pathways to future destinations. Knowing our students well, through advisory groups, individual meetings, after school programming, and individual sessions provides us data that is used to adjust and modify a student's development profile which we use to support life transitions to colleges and universities and beyond.
COLLEGE & CAREER READINESS
College and Career Readiness is a key component of our life transition model we utilized at Dalian American International School. There are over 29,000 colleges and universities globally, each providing differing kinds of experiences for their students. Making an informed decision is as important as giving students the opportunity to practice skills needed to direct their professional life's trajectory. At DAIS, our goal is to support you and your child through the decision-making process and help facilitate a transition to a college or university where your child will thrive.
ROLE OF COUNSELORS
Comprehensive School Counselor is a key resource supporting your child’s developmental journey that includes college and career readiness, social and emotional learning, and responsive services. Comprehensive School Counselor is an advocate for students as they move through our programming at Dalian American International School.
With the support and guidance of our Comprehensive School Counseling Team students will:
- Develop a sense of identity
- Identify their strengths and weaknesses
- Identify life goals and how to pursue their passion
- Identify a lifestyle and built a roadmap to achieve it
- Identify universities and colleges that fit within larger life goals and long-term plans
- Map out appropriate admission requirements for chosen college and university destinations
- Create timelines for completing university applications, including time to refine college essays and prep for optional interviews
- Create goals for transitioning into college/university
- Develop a sense of intercultural competence through well-being and social-emotional transition work within the school community
COLLEGE ACCEPTANCES
Dalian American International School graduates are accepted into top universities worldwide: the United States, UK and other European countries, Asia (including Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore), Australia and New Zealand. Our counseling team is eager to help each student get into the college that would be the best fit for them.
MEET THE TEAM
Daniel Gould
Director of Counseling and Student Services
Mr. Gould has considerable working experience within Counseling in international schools in China. He has spent the last 11 years building Counseling Programs and Students Services across multiple international schools throughout China. He spent 2014-2019 working at DAIS as the Director of Counseling and is thrilled to rejoin a wonderful comprehensive K-12 educational institution like DAIS.
Queenie Zhang
College Counselor & Test Coordinator
Ms. Zhang has a Master's diploma in Sociology from City University of Hong Kong and a School Counselor Certificate. She is also a member of International ACAC and China ICAC. With 8 years of teaching and counseling experience, Ms. Zhang is ready to meet every educational student's needs and ensure all graduates are accepted to the best universities all over the world.
Jessica Lim
College Counselor & Social Emotional Counselor
Ms. Lim has over ten years of work experience in the education and counselor industry. She is fluent in verbal and written communication in English, Mandarin Chinese and Korean. Among other recognitions, Ms. Seung Yeon Lim has a Korean National Youth Counselor Tier 3 certificate issued by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and and an Instructional Coach Certificate issued by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kelly Zhao
Counseling & Support Services Administrative Assistant
Ms. Kelly Zhao earned her Master of Arts in Education from the University of York and holds a Bachelor of Science (Honors) degree from the University of Toronto. Her professional journey includes her role as an International Education Counselor, where she gained valuable experience in supporting students and navigating the complexities of international education.
Lydia Donahue
Whole School Learning Support Coordinator
Ms. Lydia Donahue brings over 15 years of international teaching experience to her role. She holds a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Education and is certified in Elementary Education and Special Education. Her diverse experience includes roles as an Elementary Teacher, Instructional Coach, Special Education Teacher, Autism Specialist for Elementary, and Team Lead.
Jade Wu
Learning Support
Ms. Wu has earned a psychology certification from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is a certified American Positive Discipline Classroom Facilitator. Additionally, she has further enhanced her expertise through professional development in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Individualized Education Programs (IEP) at Vanderbilt University’s IRIS Center, a leading institution in special education in the USA.
Contact Us
Our Counseling and Student Services team is here to support you! For transcript and records requests from alumni or current families, as well as inquiries about scheduling school visitations for university representatives, please use the email address provided below:
