Notre Dame teacher-turned-counselor says she is available to help students no matter what.
Notre Dame Prep counselor Jamie Rodda visits classrooms each month, teaching students time-management and prioritization skills, anxiety-reduction techniques, brain-based study skills, communication skills, and much more.
Nationwide, the picture is even more discouraging.
“The unfortunate reality is that the professionals who work tirelessly to help students plan for postsecondary education are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of students who need support,” said David Hawkins, executive director for educational content and policy with the National Association for College Admission Counseling. “In some public schools in the U.S., school counselors face student-to-school-counselor ratios of more than 1,000 to 1, and college access advisors working in community-based organizations are similarly swamped by demand for their services.”
Fortunately, for the Notre Dame Prep counseling department, students seeking help are much more able to receive it an a very timely manner. In 2006, NDPMA’s upper division had three counselors on staff, meaning that each were responsible for a little more than 250 students each. Today, the department has five full-time counselors, which brings the ratio down to an even more manageable 150 students per counselor.
One of those five says that each of Notre Dame’s counselors is much more able to build strong helping relationships and provide exceptional college and career counseling to every student, plus personal counseling when and where needed.
“This is a very unique and valuable aspect of our counseling program,” said Jamie Rodda, who’s been a counselor at Notre Dame for six years. “Public-school counselors with larger caseloads, or the strictly college-counseling programs in private schools, are not necessarily focused on the social-emotional needs of students in addition to their academic and college-going needs.”
Began at Notre Dame as a teacher
Rodda, who came to Notre Dame in 2006 as a teacher of freshman biology and honors biology after earning her B.A. from Oakland University, joined the counseling department in 2011 as a freshman counselor after earning her master’s degree in counseling. A few years later, she began working with both freshman and sophomores after completing requirements to become a fully licensed professional counselor by the State of Michigan. Outside of school, she also helps out a team of therapists at Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan.
Rodda, right, is with fellow freshmen/sophomore counselor Stacy Golliff at Notre Dame’s graduation on May 21.
“It is critically important to me that all NDP students feel that they have someone in their corner, someone who cares, listens, and is there for them no matter what,” Rodda said. “I always tell my students that as their counselor, I am here ‘to help them with anything and everything,’ and I truly mean it. A student might be struggling with anything from how to study to even a serious mental health issue, and I want to make sure that they feel comfortable and trust me to help them with anything they can’t handle on their own.”
Since Rodda joined the department six years ago, the counseling department, which is overseen by Vlado Salic, has expanded not only in numbers but by the services it provides, especially for freshmen and sophomores. The group’s Self-Management Program is a case in point.
“Two years after we started that program, I attended a counselor workshop where ultra-selective colleges such as Yale, Princeton and the University of Virginia were present,” Rodda recalled. “I asked them how we can best prepare students for admission to their colleges, and they said that successful, strong candidates for admission must learn how to manage stress and reduce anxiety during their high school years. In our Self-Management Program, Mrs. Golliff and I are actually in the freshman and sophomore classrooms each month, teaching students time-management and prioritization skills, anxiety-reduction techniques, brain-based study skills, communication skills, and much more.”
Carl Wacker from the Notre Dame Class of 2017 is with counselor Jamie Rodda at Wacker’s graduation ceremony.
Rodda also has high praise for the school's campus ministry department.
"Campus ministry has grown immensely and become a true asset to the student body over the past several years," she said. "I am especially grateful for the new peer leader program and its yearly Freshman Launch kickoff event, which provides a welcoming ‘family’ for incoming 9th graders and transfer students, and the transformational Kairos retreats in which I’ve had the honor of being an adult leader for every year. In the past few years, counseling department collaboration with campus ministry has increased, which I believe is necessary for an integrative approach to spiritual and mental health wellness in our school community."
Incredibly welcoming
When Rodda first hired on at NDPMA and before she became a counselor in a department that now also includes Margie Bond, Jason Whalen, Golliff and Salic, she said she knew she had found a home.
Rodda is with husband Mike Rodda at his company’s 2016 Christmas party in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Rodda most definitely is “all-in” with the Notre Dame family. In fact, her daughter, Rosalie, who is 7, will be in the 3rd grade at the lower division next school year, and her 5 year old son, Lucas, will be entering kindergarten next year. But outside of Notre Dame, Rodda appears to be just as busy as she is inside — although her job as a counselor is never far from top of mind.
“My husband, Mike, and I just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary,” she said. “And the four of us keep ourselves well-occupied. I really enjoy spending time with my family as well as golfing, four-wheeling, snowmobiling and attending concerts. But more than anything else, I love to learn. I am constantly reading books and going to workshops about parenting, counseling strategies, mental health, study skills and college counseling. It is always very important to me to continue to develop my skills and knowledge base to provide the best service possible to my students.”
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
Follow Notre Dame on Twitter at @NDPMA.
About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.