Location: Gardner, MA
Category: Professional (Staff Member)
Job Type: PSM
Posted On: Mon Jul 6 2026
Job Description:
General Statement of Duties:
Working as part of a collaborative and highly student-focused Early College team, MWCC is seeking a Student Support Counselor who helps students build confidence, strengthen academic and personal skills, connect with college, high school, family, and community supports, and develop a clearer sense of their goals for the future. The Counselor plays a key role in helping high school students successfully enter, navigate, and complete an early college experience.
This position provides student-centered guidance and wrap-around support, from recruitment and onboarding through high school graduation and transition into college. Particular focus for this role will be campus-based early college students with specific supports for students who are multilingual, low-income, first-generation, diverse, and/or recipients of IEP or other support services. Some additional work will occur on site at partnering high schools.
The role includes supporting admissions and registration processes, course selection, attendance and persistence strategies, financial aid and scholarship navigation, career exploration, family communication, student engagement, and crisis-related referrals when needed.
This position also designs and facilitates workshops, orientations, cultural events, college visits, civic engagement opportunities, and other activities that help students expand their experiences, challenge themselves, and grow as learners, leaders, and members of a larger community. The ideal candidate will bring warmth, energy, creativity, and joy to their work; will know how to inspire students and colleagues alike; and will be able to build trusting relationships while maintaining clear personal and professional boundaries. We are seeking someone who believes deeply in the promise of early college, understands youth development, and can help create an environment where students feel supported, challenged, respected, and excited to grow.
Responsibilities:
- Provide counseling, guidance and general support for early college students throughout the early college experience, from recruitment to onboarding to transition post-high school graduation, with a focus on wrap-around services both inside and outside academics.
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Connect students with existing supports, within their high schools, communities and within MWCC, to contribute to successful high school graduation, reduction of summer melt, and connection with appropriate services and programs to ensure continued enrollment in college throughout their early college experience.
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Provide specific focus and support for students who are multilingual, low-income, first generation, diverse and recipients of IEP services.
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Organize orientation sessions and/or workshops to support early college students in adjusting to college expectations and processes throughout their enrollment in early college.
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Organize a workshop schedule for campus-based early college students in support of their continued growth, development and success.
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Meet with students and families as needed to support each student's continued enrollment in early college and matriculation thereafter; contact families/guardians when students have significant absence or challenges to success, as well as significant successes.
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Provide support, and connect students with appropriate services, who are at risk of failure or struggling in their coursework.
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Work collaboratively with Early College Advisors and faculty members to develop and implement strategies for keeping student class attendance rates consistent.
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Counsel students in course selection and registration based on student goals, circumstances and interests.
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Assist in conducting student registration and orientation, with a focus on integration of active learning strategies.
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Support logistics needs for courses, with particular focus on high school based courses.
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Support student engagement in student activities through collaboration with Student Life and Student Services, arranging logistics when necessary, and recommending activities to early college program staff.
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Connect early college students with opportunities to become civic leaders, community leaders and to excel in other co-curricular activities in the development of leadership skills, knowledge and aptitudes.
Job Requirements:
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in counseling, Education, or closely related field;
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Two (2) years experience and/or training involving career counseling, academic advising, international student policies, foreign language interpretation, and personal computer operations; or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
Desired Qualifications:
- Bilingual/Multilingual strongly preferred;
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Experience with Early College preferred.
Equivalency Statement
Applicants who do not meet the qualifications as stated above are encouraged to put in writing precisely how their background and experience have prepared them with the equivalent combination of education, training and experience required for the responsibilities of this position.
Additional Information:
Campus Title: Early College Student Support Counselor
Salary: $58,979.00 - $100,530
Actual Salary determined by education, experience, and any applicable grant limitations per the collective bargaining agreement. Applicants should be aware it is unlikely the salary will be at or near the top of the range.
Grade: 3
Employee Status: Full-Time
Benefits: Yes
Hours per Week: 37.5
Number of Weeks: 52
Mount Wachusett Community College is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sex, disability, religion, age, veteran status, genetic information, pregnancy or related conditions, gender identity, sex characteristics, sex stereotypes or sexual orientation in its programs and activities as required by Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other applicable statutes and college policies. The College prohibits Sex-Based Harassment. Inquiries or complaints concerning discrimination, harassment, or retaliation shall be referred to the College's Affirmative Action Officer and/or Title IX Coordinator, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission or the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.
