Collegiate Academies

Olivia Morales

Olivia Morales is an education leader and college access advocate committed to supporting first-generation students. As Director of College Counseling at George Washington Carver High School, a Collegiate Academies public school in New Orleans, Louisiana, her work centers on guiding students and their families toward college selections and admissions, equitable career pathways, and long-term student success.

In this interview, Morales discusses how early engagement, family partnership, and aligned school-wide collaboration drive equitable college access. She emphasizes the importance of higher education affordability and the impact of a college degree on continued professional success for first-generation students.

Shaping Student Support through Leadership

My journey into college counseling began with my parents, who immigrated to the United States to earn their degrees and emphasized education as the pathway to opportunity. Even then, I did not grow up knowing how to navigate the admissions process. I spent ten years in the classroom, primarily working with juniors and seniors who were often first-generation college-going students.

After moving to New Orleans, I joined George Washington Carver High School, a historically Black institution serving talented scholars who face real post-secondary barriers. Teaching a college success class led naturally into college counseling. Today, as Director of College Counseling, I support nearly 200 seniors and coach counselors across our network, collaborating closely with staff, families, and students to expand college access and open doors to more opportunities.

Family Engagement and College Affordability Strategies

For first-generation students, college access is shaped as much by family understanding as by academic preparation. One of our biggest areas of growth has been starting early and engaging students and families in ninth grade. We've learned the value of spending more time in classrooms and using family orientations to explain how GPA, the ACT, and academic profiles connect directly to college affordability and long-term outcomes. We prioritize finding a true college match that fits the student academically and personally, focusing on institutions with high graduation rates and the financial resources to ensure no debt beyond federal loans.

Family partnership is central to this work. Through transparent conversations, families make informed decisions together. One senior, Jamaya, initially wanted to skip college and pursue a sonography certificate. Her academic record was strong, and through our college counseling sessions, she realized she could pursue a more ambitious pathway. With her family's support, Jamaya applied early to Smith College and was accepted. Next fall, she'll join a cohort of Carver alums in Northampton.

We prioritize colleges with high graduation rates and established support systems, two factors that play a major role in first-generation student persistence. Lack of financial and academic support are the primary reasons students don't graduate. That's why we worked closely with Patricia and her family to choose a public university with a partnership program that enabled her to graduate with no gap cost, rather than accumulating significant debt at another institution. When families understand these trade-offs early, students can make empowered choices. Consistent messaging and early guidance make these outcomes possible.

This work matters because college continues to matter deeply to families, especially first-generation students. Data consistently show that earning a degree improves lifetime earnings, access to healthcare, and retirement security, regardless of field of study. Families across income levels believe in the value of college, and their belief, alongside our commitment to affordability and fit, drives everything we do.

The Evolving Role of Technology

There's been considerable conversation around technology in college counseling. I've been speaking with other counselors and exploring emerging tools in this space. Some platforms genuinely excite me, particularly those that support students by offering feedback similar to what I would provide on their writing, without taking over the work or replacing their voice.

“We prioritize finding a true college match that fits the student academically and personally, focusing on institutions with high graduation rates and the financial resources to ensure no debt beyond federal loans.”

At Carver, we haven't fully integrated these tools, but we're open to them. As long as technology serves as a support rather than a replacement, there's real potential. Our goal is for these emerging resources to enhance student work, not replace it.

Still, technology has its limits. Counseling is both a science and a deeply relational practice. Every student and every family brings different circumstances, academic profiles, and financial realities. A program that simply takes in data points cannot account for the nuances our counselors navigate daily—matching students with institutions that have strong graduation rates and financial resources while accounting for each family's unique circumstances. Our counselors know our kids. For most, they have four years of data and relationships that no algorithm can replicate. That human understanding becomes especially critical as we connect students with selective institutions that offer strong financial aid. These decisions require understanding both the student and the institutional landscape in ways technology alone cannot provide.

Technology may streamline parts of our work, but it cannot replace what happens after students enroll. Through our school-based Success Counselors, students receive ongoing support through enrollment and their first year at college, covering everything from academic habits to mental health resources and on-campus engagement. This kind of sustained, relational support, which has improved our persistence rates, reminds us that tools are useful, but relationships remain irreplaceable.

Building Equity through Shared Ownership

One of the most important lessons I learned early on is that this work is truly a team effort. College counseling cannot happen in isolation, and it certainly cannot be done well by one person alone. Our success depends on what is happening across the entire school, from improving reading levels and strengthening content mastery to increasing ACT scores and academic confidence. Because of that, I am intentional about aligning my work with our whole-school academic goals. When that alignment exists, students receive consistent messaging from every adult in the building, reinforcing a college-going identity that becomes part of who they are.

When everyone understands that college is not a "nice to have" but an imperative, especially for first-generation students, the work becomes shared rather than siloed. It becomes natural for me to proctor an exam, support a study group, or follow up with families about ACT testing, because those moments directly connect to future applications and opportunities. College counseling stops being one person's responsibility and becomes the school's collective mission.

My guidance to college counseling directors is to prioritize this alignment and shared ownership. When educators across a school believe in the same outcomes and work toward them together, equity follows. A shared commitment to student success ensures every learner has a real chance, not just to apply to college, but to get there affordably and graduate.