PREVIOUS EVENTS
CESA College Counseling Institute
Chicago, IL
April 6-8, 2025
The CESA College Counseling Institute seeks to bring together like-minded counselors from high-performing Christian schools to grow together in our ability to provide the very best in college counseling to our school families. Knowing the needs and values of our school families are often quite different from those in non-sectarian independent schools or public schools, this Institute will provide the best content with our larger mission at the center of all we do.
Rooted and Ready: Empowering Faithful Features
What can we expect? CESA events prioritize the best possible content in a setting that enables you to build the network of peers you need to do the work you’ve been called to.
Schedule
The Institute will span three days, beginning Sunday, April 6th, with an opening dinner and Keynote at Timothy Christian Schools. The sessions will continue through mid-morning on April 8th. We encourage you to stay for an additional college tour in the Chicagoland area, too!
Sunday, April 6
- 4:45 p.m. – Buses Depart for Timothy Christian from The Doubletree Oakbrook
- 5 p.m. – Registration and Tour of Timothy Christian
- 6 p.m. – Dinner
- 7 p.m. – Opening Keynote: Rooted and Ready: Empowering Faithful Futures, Jeff Morrow, Director of College Counseling, Oaks Christian School
- 7:45 p.m. – Hot Topic Discussions and Dessert
- 8:30 p.m. – Return to hotel
Monday, April 7
- 8 a.m. – Buses depart for Wheaton College
- 8:30 a.m. – Buses arrive at Wheaton College for breakfast
- 9:30 a.m. – Keynote: College Rankings; What they tell us, and more importantly, what they don’t. James Wiser Higher Education Researcher and Dean of Libraries, Abilene Christian University
- 10:30a.m. – Refreshment break
- 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. – Breakout sessions
- 11:15 a.m. – 1 p.m. – Lunch
- 1:15 – 2:30 p.m. – Tour of Wheaton College
- 2:30 – 3 p.m. – Refreshment break
- 3 – 3:45 p.m. – Keynote: The State of Christian Higher Education, Silvio Vazquez, Chief Enrollment Management Officer, Wheaton College
- 3:45 p.m. – Breakout sessions
- 5:15 p.m. – Depart for Dinner and Networking
Tuesday, April 8
- 8 a.m. – Buses depart for the University of Chicago
- 9:30 a.m. – Tour of University of Chicago
- 11 a.m. – Buses depart for Loyola
- 12 p.m. – Lunch
- 1 p.m. – Presentation at Loyola Chicago
- 2 p.m. – Tour of Loyola
- 3 p.m. – Depart for hotel or airport
Keynote Presentations
Rooted and Ready: Empowering Faithful Futures
Jeff Morrow, Director of College Counseling, Oaks Christian School
College Rankings: What they tell us, and more importantly, what they don’t.
James Wiser, Higher Education Researcher and Dean of Libraries, Abilene Christian University
The State of Christian Higher Education
Silvio Vazquez, Chief Enrollment Management Officer, Wheaton College
Breakout Sessions
Learn how forming a college advisory board for your school can challenge your thinking and streamline your program while also kickstarting a professional network that will serve both you and your families. Why being a part of your professional development organizations matter.
Anxiety, competition, and fear are often a part of a student’s college admission journey. But it doesn’t have to be like that.
Learn to balance data-driven counseling while maintaining a relationship of advocacy with your students.
Building a program that equally serves all of the stakeholders in your programs can be tricky. How do we balance programming that meets grade-level students where they are while calling them to something higher? And in today’s culture, how do we proactively program for parents as well?
In this session, we will share ideas on what is working and how to improve our work, student outcomes, and their overall experience preparing for their next step.
Questions? Contact Katie Wiens kwiens@cesaschools.org