College Admissions Advisor in Greenwood Village

The Best U consists of a team of experienced college counselors that help students to achieve a more seamless college search and application process.
The Best U team uses their experience as university admissions counselor and high school college counselors to take the guesswork out of the college admissions process. This can be a challenging time for students and parents alike, but they can help alleviate the uncertainties that are created by the nuanced, and often mysterious, college admissions process. With insider’s knowledge and individualized attention, they make the process less about managing the stressful process and more about the student’s individual success.
Meet Stacy
Current Owner/College Counselor – The Best U
Current College Counselor/Consultant – Shining Mountain Waldorf School, CO
College Consultant – College Essay Guy
Former Director of College Counseling – Alexander Dawson School, CO
Former Sr Asst Director of Undergraduate Admissions – Johns Hopkins University, MD
Former Assistant Director of Admissions – Northeastern University, MA
Stacy Hernandez received both her B.S. and M.S. from Northeastern University in Boston.
From 1999 – 2011, I worked in undergraduate admissions at Johns Hopkins University and Northeastern University with short breaks during these years to have a family, work at Maryland Institute College of Art, and start a yoga business. In admissions, I read thousands of college applications, made admissions decisions, managed a variety of recruitment territories, oversaw the recruitment process and the tour guide program, and developed recruitment programming for underrepresented multicultural students. I switched sides of the desk and served as the Director of College Counseling at Dawson School in Lafayette, CO, from 2011 – 2015. At Dawson, I worked with all types of students to support their college admissions process and developed admissions programming for middle and high school students and parents. Currently, I work part-time as the college counselor at Shining Mountain Waldorf School. In 2015, I co-founded The Best U and transitioned into working with families independently to support their college admissions process.
I serve on the Ithaca College Admissions Advisory Board and formerly served on the Admissions Advisory Board at Colorado State University. Over the years, I have been a volunteer for College Horizons, a college admissions workshop program for Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students and with Access Opportunity, an organization that supports high-potential, low-income students, through high school and college in Colorado. I am a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), Rocky Mountain Association for College Admission Counseling (RMACAC), and Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA) and was a board member for the National Advisory Committee for the College Board’s 2017 Native American Student Advocacy Institute (NASAI) Conference.
As a college counselor, my goal is to help students determine the best path forward in order to make the college admission process less stressful and more accessible. I meet students where they are at and provide them with the guidance and information they need to have a successful college admissions process.
Meet David
Current College Counselor – The Best U
Current High School Counselor – Niwot High School, CO
Former Elementary and Middle School Teacher – San Francisco, CA and Boulder, CO
David Keyek received his B.S. in Communication and Political Science at Syracuse University and a M.A. Counseling Psychology, School Counseling – University of Colorado Denver.
From 2010 to the present day, I have worked as a high school counselor at Niwot High School in Niwot, Colorado serving the college, career, academic and emotional needs of over 250 students annually. I take immense pride in my work in serving students from all economic groups and ethnicities. I specialize in serving high-achieving students within Niwot’s International Baccalaureate Diploma Program as well as those engaged in rigorous Advanced Placement courses. As a high school counselor and former special education teacher, I’m highly effective in serving niche populations whose learning differences or language backgrounds might otherwise be a barrier to their college process.
As a highly engaged college and school counselor, I pursue active membership and training with the IB World Organization (IBO), the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC), the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the Colorado School Counselors Association (CSCA) and the Higher Education Consultant’s Organization (HECA).
Foremost, as a college consultant, I seek to support every student in their quest in exploring and developing their maximum potential. I thrive in creative environments where human relationships and risk-taking are highly valued and where trust, communication and collaboration are as important as the final outcome.
Meet Jami
Current College Counselor – The Best U
Current Director of College Advising – Kingswood-Oxford School, CT
Former College Counselor – Achievement First Hartford High School, CT
Former Associate Director of College Guidance – The Loomis Chaffee School, CT
Former Associate Dean – Wesleyan University, CT
Former Assistant Director – Connecticut College, CT
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Jami Silver received her Masters in Counseling with a specialization in Higher Education from Central Connecticut State University and a B.A. from Oberlin College.
Since 2000, Jami Silver has worked in education and college counseling. Jami spent many years in the field of college admission and college access, working on “both sides of the desk” as an Admission Dean at Connecticut College and Wesleyan University and later worked as a college counselor at multiple independent day and boarding secondary schools and a public charter school. Jami regularly presents at national and regional conferences on topics related to college admissions, college access, and the college process. Jami volunteers with the Hartford public library to provide college counseling to kids, sat on the Board Member of the YMCA of Greater Hartford and has been an active volunteer for College Horizons, a college admissions workshop program for Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students for many years. Jami loves to be around people and enjoys the time she gets to spend with her two sons.
Meet Jenna
Jenna Greenwood received received a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Colorado, at Boulder and an M.S. in Higher Education Leadership and Policy from Portland State University.
Since 2013, I’ve been supporting students as they navigate the higher education system in various different capacities. Early in my career, I did a term of service with AmeriCorps at a college access and retention nonprofit in Minnesota, where I developed an interest in helping students understand the financial aid process. I worked at the University of Oregon as a Financial Aid Counselor, where I developed a deep understanding of the financial aid system. As a Financial Aid Counselor, I advised and processed awards for a caseload of several hundred students, created and oversaw a student-run financial literacy program, and reviewed special circumstance petitions.
Currently, I work as an Assistant Director of Programs and Student Engagement in the BOLD Center in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at CU Boulder. In my current role, I provide strategic oversight and goals for the retention and engagement efforts for students who are traditionally underrepresented in engineering (women, students of color, and first-generation students).
I was a member of OASFAA (Oregon Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators) and WASFAA (Western Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators). In 2016 I was awarded the Outstanding New Professional Award at the Western Association of Student Financial aid Conference. I’ve also presented and written about the complexities of financial aid. In 2016, I presented a session called: “Eliminating Barriers in Financial Aid For Marginalized Students” at the Oregon Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators Conference. In 2018, I published a paper and presented a session called: “How Financial Aid Practices Further Marginalize Students” at the Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference.
As a College Affordability Counselor, my goal is to help students and families gain an understanding of the financial aid process so they can make informed decisions about paying for college.
Families from the USA and All Over The World – Take charge of the college application process now!
Schedule Now!
Location: Greenwood Village, CO, USA

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