NORWICH – A new online resource will give Norwich High School students and parents easier access to college and career searches as well as resume, scholarship and financial aid information.

Guidance Office staff members have already begun using the interactive web-based tool, Guidance Direct, which they say will make their work with students more efficient and more hands-on.

“We want to create more of a comprehensive program for our students,” said High School Guidance Counselor Tracy Maynard, regarding the addition of the resource to the department’s existing offerings. She and fellow staff members Kathy Stratton and Susan Maray-Webster received training on the program last week.

“We’re pretty excited about this,” said Stratton. “We think it has a lot of benefits for our kids.”

The guidance staff plans to introduce the tool to all students grades 9 through 12 by the end of the current school year, but the first push will be getting passwords and access codes into the hands of the junior class before winter break. Once students have that information in hand, they’ll be able to access the site from any computer with Internet access, at home or school.

“Our goal is to get out of our office and into the classrooms to work with students on this,” said Maynard.