Indian Springs High earns award for school counseling program

Indian Springs High School (ISHS) has been named a 2025 Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) school by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), marking its first time earning the distinction and the third San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) campus to receive the honor.

“I am very proud of Indian Springs High for being a RAMP school,” said Superintendent Mauricio Arellano. “The staff has taken to heart our Vision 2030: SBCUSD SHINES and our mission of ensuring that each student has the skills, resilience and determination to create their path and thrive in school, career and life.”

School counseling is about serving students across multiple domains—academic, college and career, and social-emotional development. ISHS counselors and administrators, along with those across SBCUSD, are committed to using a data-driven, student-centered approach to fostering a positive school climate that results in documented improvement in their behavior, social-emotional well-being and academic achievement.

“The ASCA Model structures our counseling work to ensure that in collaboration with our wonderful staff, administration team and the community, we are making a difference in the right ways for all our students,” said ISHS Head Counselor Michael Bennie. “We envision every student empowered to achieve academic success, thrive socially and emotionally and graduate prepared for the college or career of their dreams. The Model is a system to help our team increasingly make this vision happen.”

An example of a significant ISHS counseling initiative that demonstrates why ISHS earned the RAMP award was a 2023–2024 action plan to boost college readiness among African-American juniors by 20% as measured by how many passed college-preparatory courses, also known as “A–G” courses. The plan included group and individual counseling, grade monitoring and strategic collaboration with community groups. In the end, 62.5% of the 24 participants completed their A–G requirements by the time they graduated in June 2025. That was up from 35.6% African-American students in the Class of 2024.

“We rely on our teachers to deliver rigorous and relevant instruction every day,” Principal Jacob Rosario said, “and we count on our counseling team to build resilience by supporting the mental and emotional health of our students, ensuring they are ready and able to learn at high levels.”

Only 32 schools in California and 190 across the nation were officially recognized as RAMP schools at the 2025 ASCA Annual Conference held earlier this month in Long Beach, Calif. The RAMP designation is valid for five years, meaning Indian Springs High will retain the honor through 2029. Two other SBCUSD schools currently hold the RAMP distinction—Sierra High School, which was recognized in 2021, and Riley College Prep Academy Elementary School, which was recognized in 2023. For more information about RAMP, visit https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Recognition/RAMP.