Summer School

A few quick, last minute reminders about summer school...

1. If you failed a class and are taking a class through Worthington Summer School, that started today! Hopefully you remembered and made it for your designated time slot (8-10 or 10-12) at Worthington Academy building. If you failed a class and didn't get signed up yet, please be sure to check your school email for the link to register and you will be able to be added to the waiting list. Rememer, Worthington summer school is free and is an important opportunity to stay on track for graduation.

2. If you were planning to enroll in an online get-ahead summer class through TRECA, don't forget that tomorrow, June 3rd at 11:59pm, is the deadline to sign up. There is a $95 fee for each 1/2 credit class. Your actual summer school work with TRECA won't start until next Monday, June 9th. By listing Worthington Kilbourne HS when you register, TRECA will automatically send your transcript to me at the end of the summer school term.

And then I want to also remind all of you that if something has changed in your plans related to summer school, I need for you to let me know as soon as possible. Email will be the perfect way to communicate your changed plans. Because I know that many students who were planning to take a get-ahead online class didn't sign up for it, you might be short of a graduation requirement in your course requests for next year or if you are no longer going to be attending the Worthington summer school session, your core class sequence likely needs to change and I need to try to do all of that before school starts again in August.

I hope that you all have a great summer and that if summer school is a part of your plans, that you will learn a lot and be able to make good, quick progress through the courses.

End of the Year Reflections

The end of the school year is always filled with lots of emotions. There is the stress of trying to finalize schedule conflicts and deal with failures, excitement for graduating seniors and all that is ahead of them, sadness to say goodbye to students (both those leaving for just the summer and seniors who are leaving WKHS for good), and relief to make it to slower days of summer where sleeping in becomes the norm.

Two weeks ago today was Kilbourne's graduation ceremony and it was a great day celebrating the students in the Class of 2025. But personally, it also ended up being a really special day for me too. I was surprised to be one of the staff members inducted into the Kilbourne Hall of Fame. I am not trying to make the seniors graduation day and celebration be about me, but I have to acknowledge how much this meant to me. There are so many teachers, along with many of my former students, who have been selected for the Hall of Fame and I admire and respect each of them more than I can express. They are truly the best at making a difference and so, to me, the concept that I would be among these other incredible people is simply indescribable. I don't know that I am actually worthy of this recognition, but I know that it certainly filled my heart.

The end of this school year was also different because for the first time in 19 years, I had to pack up my office to move. As you are aware, the construction on the 2nd floor is now complete, but the first floor is far from done. The administrative and counseling center area is going to flip locations with the library which means that my office will no longer be my office. I have to admit, this made me really sad. My office is where I have so many memories with so many students from all of the years. My office was our shared safe space to talk about the good and the bad. As I worked on boxing everything up I also knew that I needed to go through files and purge away stuff I no longer needed. One of those files ended up coming home with me to my "keep forever box." I had cards, notes, and even print outs of emails from literally the first month of working in Worthington (which, by the way, was before all of my students were even born!) and reading through these notes was so fun and helped me to remember that the connection I have had with students and their families throughout the years is bigger than just the space of my office. And, once again, it filled my heart with so much love and gratitude.

So even though the end of each school year is always filled with lots of emotion - this one has been special and different. My heart is full, my emotions are definitely at the surface, and my gratitude for each student and family that I have had the honor of working with is without measure.

Next Year's Schedule

Mrs. Backhurst has been working tirelessly on the master schedule for next year.  She has determined where each class will be held during the school day to meet as many student requests as possible. As of yesterday, the administrators have officially "locked" the master schedule into place. 

Unfortunately, now that the schedule is locked it becomes crazy for the counselors as we go through each of the schedules that didn't match and try to figure out if there is a solution and what possible options we can use to make a schedule fit together. We will spend hours pouring over schedules and will have to call down some of you to talk about back up choices based upon the conflicts in your schedule. This is never easy and I know can be disappointing when you don't get all of the classes that you wanted, so I promise that I am doing the best I can to make everything work together.

I started the process of calling kids down today.  In the coming days, if you get a pass, an email or a remind message from me to come see me during your lunch, off period or between periods, I am asking you to please make every effort to come at the day and time I am calling for you so we can look at your schedule together.  (And that specific timing is when I think I should be able to fit you in without making you wait for long.)  You definitely don't want me to be the one to make those tough choices for you, so we really do need to meet and look at the options together.

Inevitably, when everyone hears that the schedule is locked, students will be curious about the schedule and what their classes will look like for next year.  I am more than happy to talk about this with you, but not until all of the conflicts are resolved.  So, I ask you to please be patient with me and wait until the last three days of school (next week during your exams) to try to come and get a sneak peek at what your schedule will hopefully be for next year.  (Full disclosure though, all schedules are 100% up for revision and changes based on whatever has to happen with the master schedule as the summer progresses.)

Dear Seniors...

Dear Seniors in the Class of 2025,

Today was your last day of high school. With every senior that I saw and had the chance to talk with yesterday and today, the constant theme was reflecting back on how fast high school went. I completely agree with that sentiment! It doesn't seem like it has been 4 years since you all first came to WKHS and yet, here you are ready to graduate and take on the next adventures in your life.

I have done a lot of reflecting about your class and the word that comes to my mind most of all is RESILIENT. You have adjusted, adapted, overcome, endured, and through it all you have done it with joy, compassion, and kindness. In a lot of ways when I think of resilient students I think of this characteristic for the big aspects you have faced in school whether that was transitioning to high school with masks and then to no masks, dealing with the massive upheaval of construction, fighting for creative parking options, slugging through difficult content or challenging courses, balancing classes at WKHS and on college campuses, helping your friends, competing with your whole heart on athletic fields, and dedicating so much time to perform well on stage. But I also think of your resiliency in how you faced personal challenges - learning a new language, fighting cancer, dealing with the death of a parent or other beloved family member, struggling to find your place and where you belonged, moving to a new school, managing the stress of hard family situations at home, and so much more. 

There are no words that can adequately express how thankful I am that you have allowed me to walk alongside you in this journey. Thank you for opening up your hearts and your lives to me. Please know that you have made me a better person and I will always be grateful that I had the privilege to know and work with you for the last four years!

You have a very bright future ahead and I cannot wait to see the impact you will have. Congratulations!

Love, Miss Abbott

PS - Enjoy your day off tomorrow and I will see you all Friday afternoon for Graduation Rehearsal!

Sending AP Scores

Seniors, now that you know where you will be attending college in the future, it is important to remember that if you have taken an AP exam, you will also need to send those official scores to your intended college.

As you are likely aware, colleges each get to set their own protocol for what AP tests they will accept and what scores will result in earning credits at their school.  You can check out the AP Credit Policy using the search on CollegeBoard's website here: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies

One great aspect about sending the AP Scores is that they will send your current and past scores to the college with one report so if you have taken 5 AP tests, you don't have to pay to send 5 different scores.  

Here is the page that explains everything you need to know about sending your AP Scores: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/sending-scores

I would also like to wish a very Happy Mother's Day to all of the WKHS moms!  I hope your sons/ daughters expressed their appreciation for all the big and little things that you do to help them, but never doubt that you ARE making a difference in their lives each and every day!  Thank you for allowing me to share in your children's lives as well!

Kilbourne Kindness Closet

The Kilbourne Kindness Closet is a place where current WKHS students, parents and family members can get free Kilbourne spirit wear to show your school pride and feel like a connected part of our community. 

We count on donations from Kilbourne students, staff and families to keep the Kilbourne Kindness Closet stocked with clothes. As you do spring/ summer cleaning and find clothes that no longer fits you or doesn't apply to you any more, please know that we would love to have those donations for other families. Additionally, seniors, you are just about a week away from being alumni of WKHS. As you get ready to purge your high school gear that you no longer want/ need, please be sure to drop it off at Kilbourne for future wolves to wear.

We appreciate the community's support in making this project a reality!

Senior Recognition Night

In just about 2 hours we will hold the Senior Recognition Night which kicks off the festivities of honoring seniors.  This week as we have been working to prepare for this awards ceremony I keep thinking about how impressive you are and all that you have accomplished. From impressive scholarships earned to the awards and recognitions you have received it is exciting to be able to honor you all.

Your class has contributed in positive and meaningful ways at WKHS.  And the reality is, even for those who weren't invited to attend tonight, each of you has made a positive difference at Kilbourne.  Whether it has been in the classroom, with a club, a sport, or simply being a friend to someone on a bad day, you help make Kilbourne such a special place.

Can't wait to start celebrating the Class of 2025 this evening!