Michael Sarmiento for Univer Empower

Speaker: Michael Sarmiento, School Counselor, American School of Doha

Michael Sarmiento: Hi, my name is Michael Sarmiento. I work at the American School of Doha in Qatar as a comprehensive school counselor serving students nine through 12.

Michael Sarmiento: I'm attending the Universe Power Conference because I'm passionate about the work that we do as school counselors. And I know how essential it is to build relationships with other school counselors. But also our university partners who work within admissions and careers to help bridge the gap that often exist between schools and universities. I am excited to engage uh in in this learning to learn new things and, and topics happening in this space and I'm really looking forward to attending.

Michael Sarmiento: One way I think Universe can make this conference different than ones I've attended in the past is by bringing um multiple stakeholders um into the picture. So, for example, at the international AC AC conference that I've attended this last um this last fall here in Doha, it was just um university admission counselors and high school counselors. You know, there weren't any parents or students involved in in this conversation around university admissions and, and career exploration and those are two big stakeholders that that should always be considered in this process. Um Yes, there, there may be networking that needs to happen between high school counselors and, and university admission folks. But um we, we cannot forget the, the needs and the voice of our students and parents.