The Counseling Department at Sage Creek has a mission: aiding students with any personal, academic, or psychological problems they may have and to prepare students for a life post high school. The counseling team gained a new staff member this school year to help them achieve this mission, the guidance tech Gabby Yates.

From steering students through the exploration process of life after high school to finding the best academic journey of each student, Yates contributes support, knowledge and guidance to the SCHS campus. She has learned an immense amount of knowledge from her past work experience in a college setting to transfer onto the high school campus.

“I [had] been working at UC San Diego for almost 14 years. I always thought Sage Creek would be a great place to work, and it’d be helpful to learn more about the high school population of the students going into college before they get there,” Yates said.

Yates easily adjusted to her new environment as a part of the SCHS counseling team. Leading high school students through the most important process of their four years is a specialty that Yates is thrilled to be a part of.

“My role here is supporting the counseling team,…arranging…the college visits, and helping with the college application process,” Yates said, “It’s great to see all the different opportunities there are for students to apply for the scholarships,” Yates said.

As a new addition to Sage Creek’s faculty, she has definitely made an impact in the counseling department with her colleagues during her first few months of being here.

“She’s a very important member of our team, and so we work very closely [with Ms. Yates] when making sure students get various opportunities,” counselor Megan Corazza shared.

In fact, Yates already has a list of accomplishments she has achieved throughout the beginning of the year. Yates has gone beyond helping her coworkers in the counseling department by impacting the student body through her aid in the college application process.

“The past month with the UC and CSU application deadline it was great to help some students with their college essays. I was able to review some students essays and offer some feedback, which I enjoy the opportunity doing,” Yates explained, “I was really pleased to see how many students here are already writing at the level that I would see at UCSD.”   

Corazza feels that Yates’ experience is extremely helpful to the team. Her prior work experience of working with college students gave her valuable knowledge to be shared with high school graduates when preparing for college.

“She does come to us from higher education. She has a really good view of what it takes to be successful when you get to college,” Corazza explained.

Yates possesses a wealth of information on undergraduate colleges, therefore she has a particular interest in guiding seniors through college applications and finding the right fit. She highlighted the scholarships portion on Naviance to help seniors navigate an essential aspect of their college applications.

“The scholarship search can be completely overwhelming. I’ve been working on cleaning up and adding to the scholarships listing on Naviance, and it’s very easy for students to access. All they do is log into Naviance and select the ‘Colleges’ tab, select ‘Scholarships & Money’ and then select either ‘Scholarship Match’ or ‘Scholarship List,’” Yates explained.

Yates was hired because she is highly knowledgeable in the topic of post-high school education, and helping guide students toward their college careers.

“If students are connected to a specific community group, whether it be through a church or other organization, a lot of times those scholarship applications will give students an opportunity to express themselves and their connection to that group, ” Yates said.

She encourages students to move in a specific direction that best applies to their future plans and goals. Corazza stated with pride, “She’s just such an important part of the team, and she makes everything we do better.”

Yates’s doors are always open to students in need of guidance. Feel free to stop by and ask her any questions you have.