Meet the College Counseling Team

Named director of College Counseling in 2017, Sara Kyle had been serving Blake students in the role of associate director of College Counseling since 2001. She joined Blake after working in the office of admission at her alma mater, St. Olaf College, where she served in a variety of roles, including director of admission. Sara is past president of the Minnesota Association for College Admission Counseling (MACAC), and has led efforts in leadership development (co-founder and faculty of the MACAC Leadership Development Program), membership and publicity for the regional organization. In 2008, Sara received the MACAC Distinguished Service Award recognizing her contributions to the organization. She is also active in regional and national advocacy work through the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), and has served on NACAC national committees including the Editorial Board and Admissions Practices Committee. Currently, Sara is in the inaugural class of the NACAC Designing Your Future Fellowship. She is co-founder and co-leader of the Prairie Conference, an annual gathering of high school college counselors and college admission deans and directors. Sara is serving as co-chair of the Reed College Counselor Advisory Board and is a member of University of Minnesota Counselor Advisory and a past member of the Pepperdine University Counselor Advisory Board, the Bryn Mawr President’s Advisory Council and the Vassar College Counselor Advisory Board.

CJ Jones Eckhardt joined Blake in 2017 as associate director of admissions and Upper School coordinator and in 2020 transitioned to academic grade dean and associate director of College Counseling. She began her career in higher education in 2010 and started her admissions work at DePaul University in 2011 as an admissions counselor, later serving as assistant director of admissions for visits and events and as NCAA athletic liaison. She is a former two-sport Division I student-athlete at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. CJ continued her admissions leadership as associate director of undergraduate admissions at Hamline University and associate director of admissions at Minneapolis Community & Technical College. She has represented DePaul University through leadership and committee involvement with the Chicagoland Area Recruitment Network and the Illinois Association for College Admission Counseling.

Wendy Johnson started at Blake in 1997 as the office manager in the business office. In 2002 she moved to College Counseling and has been supporting students as the counseling coordinator. During this time, she has designed effective systems for managing submission of supporting documents for Blake students. She manages the office communication flow, responding to questions from students, parents, guardians and faculty. Wendy manages the PSAT administrations and is an ACT test administration coordinator and proctor for special testing. She is also the registrar for the Twin Cities Partnership College Fair. Each year, Wendy participates in the Association of College Counselors of Independent Schools Office Assistants Conference where is a frequent discussion facilitator.

Jim Mahoney joined Blake in 2006 as a grade dean, and served in that role for ten years, acting as the lead advocate and administrator for 130 students during their four years of high school. He made the transition to College Counseling in 2015 and leads the office's efforts in supporting recruited student-athletes, among other duties. He has presented at the Association of College Counselors at Independent Schools (ACCIS) national conference, leads the creative content subcommittee of ACCIS, and is a member of MACAC and NACAC. As a member of Blake’s English department for twenty years, he has taught and designed courses including AP English, Creative Writing, and Comedy, and currently teaches junior literature electives. Before joining Blake, Jim served as senior associate director of admissions, humanities teacher, and head squash and tennis coach at St. Paul's School in Concord, NH. He was previously an independent school faculty recruitment consultant at Carney, Sandoe and Associates.

Nora Main has been supporting students in the role of associate director of college counseling at Blake since 2017. She joined Blake after fifteen years working in the office of admission at Macalester College, her alma mater. Nora was elected to serve in the three-year presidential cycle of the Minnesota affiliate (MACAC) of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) from 2023 to 2025. She currently is serving on the Grinnell College counselor advisory board. She is a former co-chair of the MACAC admissions practices committee, which proactively supports and promotes the ethical guidelines that undergird and safeguard our work with all students at the secondary and post-secondary levels.

Since 2021, Amanda Minoff has been supporting Blake students as they prepare their college essays. Amanda joined Blake after earning her M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Minnesota in 2020. She has also served in Blake’s English department, teaching multiple grade levels in courses such as American Literature, Literature of Reconciliation, and Memoir. In her role as College Counseling liaison, Amanda has designed “Preparing for the College Essay” workshops to teach students the unique aspects of this genre of writing. After leaving her teaching role at Blake, Amanda became a lecturer in English and creative writing at the University of Minnesota and is currently working on a novel.