The Highway to Higher Ed

In the last episode, we focused on small liberal arts schools in the midwest. We now turn to a different, perhaps much broader segment of the student population: those students in suffering from anxiety and related disorders. We’ll be focusing particularly on navigating the many challenges presented to those non-traditional path students, as it can be fairly complex for parents.

I’ll be joined by Dr. Dan Villiers of The Anxiety Institute in his second appearance on the podcast…

Dr. Dan Villiers brings over twenty years of experience working with children, adolescents, young adults and families in a range of clinical and educational settings. In 2011, Dr. Dan co-founded Mountain Valley Treatment Center, the first non-hospital residential program for the treatment of adolescent anxiety in the United States. His successful intervention model, a compassionate approach to assess, educate, and motivate avoidant and resistant school-aged anxiety sufferers, has assisted more than 500 families in their pursuit of treatment.

Dr. Dan has presented at universities and conferences across the country, authored numerous articles on child mental health, and appeared on radio and TV as a subject matter expert on adolescent anxiety.

In this episode of Highway to Higher ED, Alex talks to Keith Wilkerson the founder and owner of College Thoughts, an organization that helps good students go to great colleges by focusing on self-discovery and not stress. With more than two decades of experience helping students attend great middle schools, high schools, and college, Keith is now focused on helping strong students to move on to the best colleges in the nation. Alex and Keith talk about; Keith background and what got him into college counseling, his approach, his company’s core philosophy, the ideal path for students, the importance of college essay writing, bringing out a student authentic voice, the importance of metaphor, the evolution of college applications and how they’ve impacted the role in college essay writing and a lot more.

In this episode of Highway to Higher ED, Alex talks to Johnathan Dunn, a college counsellor for over thirty years, thirteen of which have been at Fairmount Preparatory Academy and Fairmount International School in Southern California. As one of only approximately 350 Certified Educational Planners or CEPs in the world, he is especially well qualified to work with students and their families. within this episode Johnathan talks about his background, how that’s impacted his approach to college counselling, his core philosophies and objectives within his role, the types of students he comes into contact with, differences between small and large universities, regional differences in colleges, how the post-pandemic climate has impacted schools and advice for parents of young adults going through the admissions process.

In this episode of Highway to Higher ED, Ken talks to Niki Kelman the founder and director of New England education consultants.

She’s serves as director of admissions and has been instrumental in serving four different Universities in the North East. Niki holds an MS in Higher Education Administration, a proud member of the independent educational consultants association and has been a director of admission in a private high school. In this episode Ken and Niki discuss how Niki got into education consulting, ways to help families find the fit when looking at colleges, the reorientation of the college admissions criteria, ways students can improve their college applications, challenges students face, the importance of using professional college counselors, as well as sharing some of her success stories and advice to parents of students applying for college.

In this episode of Highway to Higher ED, Alex talks to Sawyer Earwood, an education professional who has worked in both college

admission offices and small startups. His admissions experience has taken him across the U.S.A. and Asia. Sawyer is currently a member of College Consultants of Colorado, a Professional Member of IECA, and a Certified Educational Consultant (CEP). Within IECA, Sawyer serves on both the DEI and Global. Within this episodes Alex and Sawyer discuss Sawyers background, how he got into college counseling, his experiences with what he calls launch operation, his role within the IECA, his process with clients, virtual tutoring, and trends he has noticed that students and parents should be aware of.

In this episode of Highway to Higher ED, Alex talks to Robert Khoury CEO of Agile Rainmakers, a high-impact business development consulting and advisory firm based in Chicago’s Gold Coast, and co-author of the book How to Intern. Alex and Robert discuss

numerous subjects, centered around internships, including; what drew Robert to offer internships, the best parts and challenges, recruiting interns, what interns can do to make the most of their internships, some ways to transition into the professional world, how the

pandemic changed internships and advice for young people looking into internships and the professional world.

In this episode of Highway to Higher ED, Alex talks to Yvonne Espinoza CEP, an Austin-based college counsellor who works with students in Austin and across the country, assisting each of her clients to be as competitive as possible to be accepted to college. Within this episode Yvonne talks about her background and how she got into college consulting, her

relationship with students, her favorite part of college consulting, the preparation process for 9th and 10th-graders, the challenges facing younger high school students when planning for the college application process and how the

pandemic impacted college applications.

In this episode of Highway to Higher ED, Alex talks to Ken Hincker, a teacher, coach, dorm parent and advisor in high school education for over twenty years. Ken taught at three institutions in the south, including Savannah Country Day School, before migrating to The Taft School in 2011, serving as its English Chair for five years and acting as soccer coach, dorm head, and advisor. He has since transitioned to executive function coaching and tutoring in the Fairfield area, serving as the Executive Director to Alliance Tutoring. Within this episode Ken discusses his background and how he got into teaching, his shift to tutoring, executive function coaching, the types of clients he serves, success stories and the current challenges he faces.

In this episode of Highway to Higher Ed, Alex talks to Casie Fariello, co-founder of Other

Parents Like Me (OPLM). OPLM is a virtual membership platform led by parents for

parents of teens and young adults struggling with mental health issues and/or

substances. They have daily support groups, live weekly speaker talks and monthly

experts panels, as well as thousand of resources, providing a safe and anonymous space

for parents and caregivers. Casie talks about her background and how she got into parent

support groups, as well as; how the OPLM works, the different groups linked through

OPLM, how members can contribute, success stories, challenges facing a child with

alternative psych or learning profiles, the impact of the pandemic, trends parents should

be aware of and much more.

In this episode of Highway to Higher Ed, Alex is joined by Deborah

Shames of Personal Best College Coaching, which she founded in 2003. She now

heads a team of six counsellors who work to help families navigate the complex

world of first year and transfer college admissions. Within this episode

Deborah and Alex talk about Deborah’s background, her companies philosophy,

when she starts working with student, the college application process for both

first time and transferring students, success stories, reason for student

dropouts, the impact of the pandemic on admissions and gives advice for parents

of transferring students.