Counselor Edition: College Vignettes Tell Tales
Handbook to help inspire Juniors with their college story
Dear Junior,
I have curated a handbook for you - College Vignettes Tell Tales, using vignettes to give you glimpses and flavors of college experiences.
With these vignettes as inspiration, I believe that you can start to plan your college story.
These vignettes are based on the hundreds of stories of college journeys from my Podcast.
Every story is different.
Each one is unique.
Yes, every story is about entering college and graduating in 4-6 years, but the road taken depends on the decisions the student makes.
It’s like you go on a vacation to say, San Francisco, where there are dozens of sightseeing spots.
What you see, the order in which you see them, or the time you spend there really depends on you.
So, just as vacations are different, so are college journeys.
The good news is that every student finds a way.
Vignettes
Since college journeys are unique, I believe the best way to engage is around points along the way, similar to the sightseeing spots on a vacation.
Therefore, I have selected points along the way from my Podcast stories and described them in the form of Vignettes.
This does 2 things:
First, it allows me to demonstrate the diversity and richness of the stories I referred to, and
Second, each Vignette will
Inform you about that point in the journey,
And hopefully inspire you to consider making that stop, when you make your journey, albeit, on your terms.
The vignettes have been provided as stand-alone pieces for you to experience and journal your own impressions.
My other hope is that it tickles your curiosity and interest enough to listen to the entire podcast episode later, so you know what happened before and after the story in the vignette.
How to Use the Vignettes?
I have curated and compiled 12 Vignettes in this book.
Each vignette is followed by a section called “Your Notes” where
College concepts or terms are listed, for you to explore more,
Prompts to capture your impressions on the vignette you just read, and
Link to the Podcast Episode with featured student/alumni to learn more.
Counselors: My suggestion is to treat this like a curriculum, do one Vignette at a time by investing 10-15 mins each week.
Treat each Vignette as a source of inspiration and information.
If what it embodies appeals to you, then add it to your “List of Things to do in College”. You should plan to figure out how to prepare for it.
If possible, pair up with a buddy after you are done and discuss each other’s takeaways from the Vignette.
Bonus Exercises
3 Bonus Exercises add interesting dimensions to this exercise.
Each one requires preparation and time investment.
They are evenly distributed across the book, so
You may want to preview what these exercises are and what prep you need to do in advance.
How to Get Started
You can download the handbook “College Vignettes Tell Tales” in pdf form.
If your pdf viewer enables you to write in the “Your Notes” section, then you could do this all online;
If your pdf viewer does not let you write in the handbook, then print a hard copy and work on the paper version.
Counselors, please feel free to download the book and share it with your Juniors.
It would be great if you could incorporate it into their College Prep Curriculum in the first part of the Junior year.
Hope the Vignettes inspire you to plan & create your own college story!
And yes, please give me feedback on the handbook by clicking on the button below!
Thanks.
Finally, my heartfelt thanks to all my Podcast guests who have been generous with their time and counsel on my Podcast.
Hope you are ready for the new school year!
Venkat
How can I suggest a podcast guest as I have the name of someone who would be terrific!