Glasgow High School is implementing a more in-depth program for preparing students for higher education.

The program is built on understanding each student’s skills and needs and personalizing the school’s efforts at helping the students find colleges to attend and careers to prepare for, according to Amy Allen, the high school’s principal.

“It’s really kind of a mindset shift in the way we get to know students,” she said.

The program begins with personality tests and career interest inventories when students are freshmen, Allen said.

The idea is to create a “best fit program” for students to determine careers and colleges, she said.

“Students will take that and, based on their interests and what their skills are, we can come up with a list of careers they would be well-suited for,” she said.

The program also involves collaboration with Sam Case, founder of CollegePrep, a Louisville company that helps students build college portfolios, Allen said.

Case, who did not return a phone message seeking comment, will participate in the program by providing information about colleges across the country, according to Lorie Bunch, a ninth- and 10th-grade counselor at the high school.

Bunch said this will allow the school to better prepare students to attend schools outside the state.

“A lot of the time, students just see the jobs in the local area,” she said. “They don’t always see outside the box, outside the community.”

Bunch is excited about the program because of its increased focus on understanding and serving the individual student, she said.

“With this, it’s just more focused, more intentional,” she said.

Because of the personality tests and career interest inventories in the program’s early stages, the program can also help students not interested in going to college find a career that suits them, she said.

Bunch began performing the personality tests with students Thursday and expects to have tested every freshman and sophomore by the end of October, she said.

Because the program is new, students past their freshman year can participate in its early stages as well, she said.

Juniors and seniors will be able to participate in the program as well, Bunch said, though by that point, students interested in higher education typically have a good idea of where they want to go to college.

“We’ll allow them to do that as they would like,” she said.

Allen said establishing a database of former students who have attended “prestigious” schools like Georgetown University, Duke University and Vanderbilt University is also part of the program. Such students could be asked to speak with GHS students who want to go to the schools they attended.

By knowing more about students’ personalities, interests and skills, and with a better understanding of what a wide range of colleges outside the state are looking for, GHS aims to better prepare students for higher education, Allen said.

“If a student wants to go to a prestigious school, by the time they get out (of high school), they’re going to be very competitive,” she said.