Guidance counselors throughout Region Eight Public Schools met at the Prince Edward County School Board Office to speak with representatives from James Madison University (JMU), University of Virginia, Old Dominion University and Longwood University on Feb. 9.

According to Prince Edward County High School JMU Professor in Residence Dr. Chapman Hood Frazier, the meeting was an initiative facilitated by JMU Dean of Admissions Michael Walsh.

“Region eight seems to be under represented often so they don’t recruit as heavily in this area as they do in the other areas such as Northern Virginia,” Frazier said. “It was good to have them all show up to answer questions that the counselors had.”

He said there were representatives from Appomattox, Cumberland, Greenville, Halifax, Prince Edward, Amelia, Mecklenburg and Lunenburg counties.

“We even had a principal come from Cumberland. It was mostly questions and answers that they did,” Frazier said. “So the counselors were able to pose questions about specific cases that they had and issues that they dealt with and the college folks were there to kind of talk about the process from their viewpoint, and what would make it go easier and what the counselors could do to make it go easier and what the counselors can do to facilitate admissions and applications and so forth.”

He said the meeting was important because it aids the counselors in helping to facilitate the admission process for students in the area.

“This kind of approach allows everyone to sit at the table equally and to talk about issues that they think are important in this process of working with students to get them ready to apply for colleges,” Frazier said. “We’ve had students occasionally go through and they don’t quite know what’s expected of them. This helps the counselors understand the process so they can help make this whole process of admissions go more smoothly for the students.”