meet our college counselors roland allen, director of college counseling, is responsible for the design and implementation of a comprehensive collegecounseling program at St. Margaret’s. He came to St. Margaret’s in the summer of 2004 and is in his fourth decade in the field of college admissions and college counseling. Prior to St. Margaret’s, Mr. Allen held appointments at several highly regarded institutions, including Westmont College, Colby College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. Additionally, he directed the college counseling programs at The Branson School in Ross, California, and Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. He is also a recognized national leader in college counseling through involvement in regional and national professional organizations, and as a frequent speaker on panels at national conferences. He is actively involved in College Board, National Association for College Admission Counseling, and Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools. He serves on the U.S. Presidential Scholars Review Committee, is on the advisory board for Princeton Review, holds an appointment to the California Counselors' Advisory Committee for the University of Chicago, and has participated on multiple accreditation review committees for the Mid Atlantic Association of Schools and Colleges, and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Recently, along with his colleague Ms. Amy Warren, Mr. Allen taught "The Road to Selective College Admissions" through edX, founded by MIT and Harvard. Roland Allen has a B.A. in philosophy from Loyola University of New Orleans and an M.S. in counselor education from the University of Scranton. He was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for High School Teachers at Yale University, where he studied the origins of Christianity under Professor Wayne Meeks. Roland Allen designed an Upper School course, wealth, poverty and ethics, which is taught in the religion department.
amy warren,
associate director of college counseling, joined St. Margaret’s in 2010. She is active in professional organizations, including the National Association for College Admission Counseling (where she has presented), Western Association for College Admission Counseling and the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools. In 2014, she collaborated with edX to develop a college counseling course, "The Road to Selective College Admission" along with her colleague, Roland Allen. Ms. Warren’s school experience includes working as the counseling department chair at Santa Margarita Catholic High School, a school counseling intern at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in New York City, and as an assistant director of admission at Santa Catalina school in Monterey. Ms. Warren worked on the other side of the desk in graduate
admissions at Teachers College, Columbia University. While living in Buffalo, New York, she worked as a crisis outreach counselor, providing on-site crisis intervention and trauma response services for individuals, families, and schools.
40:1
student to counselor ratio per class
Ms. Warren received her B.A. in psychology cum laude from Williams College, where she was a 16-time All-American swimmer and four-year NESCAC high point winner. She holds a Master of Education in psychological counseling and a Master of Arts with a focus in school counseling, both from Columbia University. Ms. Warren is a native of upstate New York and a proud graduate of Deerfield Academy.
jeff jablonski,
associate director of college counseling, brings a wealth of knowledge about selective college admissions to the college counseling team at St. Margaret’s. Prior to his role at St. Margaret’s, Mr. Jablonski worked for Case Western Reserve University’s admission office, where he evaluated applications, travelled globally to recruit and interview students, and managed the overnight visit program. In addition to being an associate director of college counseling at St. Margaret's, Mr. Jablonski is an advisor to a group of sophomore boys. He also serves as the AP Coordinator, overseeing the administration of AP testing each May. Mr. Jablonski spent much of his professional career working for nonprofits. He served as an AmeriCorps Servicemember on two projects in the West. First, he worked as an education coordinator in the Seattle Public Schools, where he planned and implemented lessons on environmental sustainability. More recently, Mr. Jablonski served in San Rafael, where he managed ecological fieldwork in the Marin Municipal Water District. He has also spent time working with various grassroots campaigns in California, including the ACLU, Sierra Club and Equality California. Mr. Jablonski graduated from Pomona College with a B.A. in computer science. While competing on the Sagehens men’s tennis team, Mr. Jablonski earned multiple team MVP and all-conference awards. In 2007, he earned the distinction of NCAA All-American in both singles and doubles. After his collegiate career, Mr. Jablonski served as a volunteer assistant coach of the Case Western Reserve men’s tennis team. At St. Margaret’s, Mr. Jablonski has been able to share his love of tennis with the Tartans as he coaches both the boys and girls teams. He also works closely with Breakthrough San Juan Capistrano and serves as a college mentor in the program. Mr. Jablonski feels passionately about serving under resourced communities and has worked as a volunteer access counselor and ACT teacher to students through the Port of Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club. HIGHLANDER
25