My sons counselor was very important throughout the process. He did the verification of activities, which is something that be updated throughout as well. Whatever you list on your portal in terms of school and sports or extracurricular activities needs to be verified. He also submitted transcripts after each semester.
The counselor is not required to do an evaluation or letter of rec, but my son asked his to do one for both the accademys and MOC's . He also coordinated other things like interviews at the school, and he troubleshot problems like teachers who were slow to get evaluations done. He was great, bit that all depends on your counselor. There are other people at the school who could do these things as well.