College Prep

Interviewer: And welcome back to 90 Minutes where we sit with Kara DeManuel, who is a college counselor at St. Regis High School located in Dorrington, California. Now Kara, before we get to the recent events at this school, let’s talk some basics. How many students would you say attend St. Regis High?

Kara: We currently have 2,500 students enrolled in St. Regis High.

Interviewer: And for those of us who haven’t heard of the school before, just what kind of a school would you say it is? How would you characterize it?

Kara: Well… St. Regis High is very difficult to categorize. I think what our school does better than many others is taking the big picture into account. So many schools today focus so much on academics and testing, but lose sight of what really important.

Interviewer: And what is it specifically that St. Regis considers important?

Kara: (Chuckles as if it was a naïve question) That’s simple. Money.

Interviewer: (Taken aback) I’ve never really heard a perspective like that before! Why does St. Regis consider… money… so important over, oh say a more traditional concern such as English?

Kara: Well it’s quite elementary really. Life is like Monopoly. Ultimately, all anyone wants to do is buy as many houses as they can and put them on as many properties as they can. In order to do that, you need money. Getting an education in… oh say English, is just like being given a pair of dice. It could lead you to success in the end, but you never know. It’s simply too risky. That’s why here at St. Regis High we skip all the dice rolling and the visits to jail and move you right to the “jackpot” so to speak. Because remember, the point of the game is to be the only one left playing, and that means eliminating the competition.

Interviewer: Interesting. This really ties into the meat of what I thought we could discuss today. As I’m sure you as well as many of our viewers are aware of, a group of California high schools have filed a lawsuit against St. Regis High, claiming that your school actually engages in practices that keep kids from other high schools out of their top colleges. I was wondering if you could comment on that?

Kara: Well it’s true that at St. Regis we do whatever is necessary to get our kids into the best colleges. And if that means that some kids from other schools get hurt in the process then so be it!

Interviewer: Could you comment more specifically on things that you have done to keep kids from other schools out of their top colleges?

Kara: Well see that’s where I come in. Over the years I have gotten good at developing certain… relationships… with college admission officers. And usually I am able to utilize that relationship in order to better the futures of our kids here at St. Regis. Of course does become tricky when there is a lack of single men in any one admissions department…

Interviewer: (Trying to end the show quickly) And ok! That’s all we have time for today folks but tune in next week.