The current educational reform agenda requires that stakeholders in the school community help all students graduate. The U.S. Department of Education's "A Blueprint for Reform: Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act" sends all stakeholders a clear message to take action that results in every student completing high school both college and career ready. This message and other reform measures have strong implications for school counselors, who are often excluded from conversations about academic achievement and college and career readiness planning. The author suggests that to help freshman stay in school and reach their full potential, an effective strategy must be put in place. This strategy is to establish relationships between ninth-grade students and their high schools, and to help them develop interpersonal relationships with their counselors, teachers, principals and other staff members in order to enhance their achievement. The author says, the more educators get to know students, the more they can help them be successful.