Bye Bye Birdie

Tonight I went to Kilbourne's production of Bye Bye Birdie and once again I walked away absolutely amazed by the talent of the WKHS students. The musical was very cute and the kids did a great job with it! Congratulations to every individual who worked to make the production a success including (and hopefully not missing anyone) the cast: Katie Chilcoat, Megan Denti, Carly Coulter, James Andrews, Chaitanya Bukkapatnam, Becca Alexander, David Busch, Allison Carney, Bryan Barbin, and Isabel Andrews. The crew: Jessica Barbarula, Jona Baldwin, Joe Donovan, Carrie Boswell, Brad Colverd, and Scott Doyle. And last, but not least, the orchestra: Emily Bright and Kaytee Ambrozich. Once again, you put on a very impressive production and I am enjoyed the evening.

Time Flies

I really cannot believe that it is already time to begin registering for classes for next year. Today during homeroom all of my Sophomores and Juniors received the information about course selection. Hopefully today or tomorrow your teachers will go over the different choices available to you in their department and will make their individual recommendations about the best class fit for you. Please remember to talk about your wishes with your parents - and then, of course, register online for the classes you plan to take next year. Just a reminder to all of my Juniors - next week starts our individual meetings. If you (and your parents) haven't set up a time yet, please talk to your parents and find out if they want to meet and let's get something scheduled. If you have any questions about registering for classes, feel free to let me know - you can comment here or stop in my office and see me. I am sure you are all excited that tomorrow is your last day of school for the week... you all will be in shock the next few weeks when your schedules actually return to five day school weeks. :-)

The Right Thing To Do

I don't have any senior girls in winter sports this year, but tonight I attended the girls basketball game for their senior night game against Grove City HS. I *know* that I am an emotional sap about some things and tonight is a perfect example. One of the senior basketball players (Kelsey S. - not my student) tore her ACL earlier this season. Obviously this is a heart-breaking end to a senior season. Tonight the coaches from both teams coordinated together to allow Kelsey to have a moment of playing for her final high school game. With a minute remaining in the game Kelsey entered and was immediately fouled resulting in her making two free-throws. It was an honorable moment and something I love about sports!

Congratulations Hockey Wolves!

The ice hockey team is nearing the end of their season and Saturday night was Senior Night. "My" seniors - Andy Ballard and Nick Carney - and the rest of their teammates (including Ken, Matt, Kyle, and Jay) could not have had a better ending for their final home game. Playing against Thomas Worthington, the Wolves had an impressive student section cheering them to victory. Kilbourne was down early, but made a come-back to tie the game at 4 sending it into overtime. (Congratulations to Andy who scored one of the goals and to Dan Petke for his 3 goals - evidently that is called a hat trick - see I learn something new all the time! LOL!) Overtime didn't last long as Kilbourne took control and scored just seconds into the period. It was a great win for the seniors and I was so happy for everyone on the team!

Congratulations also go out to the boys swim team who are OCC Cardinal Division Champions!

Report Cards

As you know, report cards were distributed yesterday during school. Were you happy with your grades or were you disappointed by them? I think that my glance through student grades said that there are probably many of you on both ends of the spectrum. For those of you who didn't end up earning the grades you had hoped for, I am curious about what you are planning to do to change the outcome for 2nd semester. Getting organized, studying, *actually* reading the books, not procrastinating, getting help from the Academic Assistants in Room 209, talking to your teacher for extra help, and doing your homework are probably the most common answers and can all be great plans, but sometimes students don't really know HOW to study or need help getting organized. Stop by and let me know if you are having a tough time turning things around (and do it NOW - before you have to work yourself out of a hole because, remember, you start fresh each semester!) If you have tried new strategies that have really helped you in a class I would LOVE to hear your suggestions and feedback as I may be able to share that idea with another student and help him/ her onto a path for success.

Enjoy your weekend - there are lots of sporting events taking place this weekend - I think every winter sport is in action - so good luck Wolves!

College Goal Sunday

I wanted to be sure that all of my seniors (and your parents) were aware of an event called College Goal Sunday. This is a free workshop where you will have expert help from Ohio college financial aid representatives to complete and submit your FAFSA forms. Ohio College Goal Sunday is held across the nation on Sunday, February 10th. Sign in starts at 1:30 and the workshop begins at 2:00. There are three locations in Franklin County - DeVry University, OSU, and Westerville North High School. You will be working on the computers and completing the actual online FAFSA forms during these workshops. It is necessary to register before Friday, February 8th. There is a list of information that you should bring with you to the event on their website.

College Good and Bad News

There is both good news and bad news on the college front.

Let's start with the good - over the past several months there has been a major push among the highly competitive colleges to re-structure their student financial aid packages. For most of the schools who have announced new financial aid structures, this has meant that they are eliminating loans from student financial aid offers. This is really something you will only find at the top, private, selective schools because they have large endowments that they can use to replace the loans. Schools I have read about with new plans for their financial aid include Baldoin, Cal Tech, Dartmouth, Davidson, Duke, Harvard, Haverford, Pomona, Swathmore, Tufts, U Penn, Wesleyan, Williams, and Yale.

The bad news is that the colleges are also reporting a record high number of college applications. The Common Application had a 40% increase in applications this year (with the average student submitting 3.5 applications through the Common App.) There are a large number of schools that are reporting significant increases in the number of applications. For example Harvard is up 19%, Chicago 18% (with an increase of 46% for early applications), Amherst 17%, Northwestern 14%, and Dartmouth 10%. Other schools like Stanford, Princeton, Brown, Duke, and UVA also reported increases (3-9% over previous years) in number of applications. Sadly, for this year’s Juniors, I don’t think we have seen the end of record breaking applications. According to the New York Times, “Officials said the trend was a result of demographics, aggressive recruiting, the ease of online applications and more students applying to ever more colleges as a safety net. The swelling population of 18-year-olds is not supposed to peak until 2009, when the largest group of high school seniors in the nation’s history, 3.2 million, are to graduate.” The good news among the bad is that you should not get discouraged because the overall college acceptance rates are holding steady at 69%. Also, some of the highly selective schools have started discussing the possibility of increasing the number of students that they accept each year. No official word on decisions that they are going to make that transition, but I will keep you posted if any schools make that change.

The simple things...

Welcome to 2nd Semester! :-) Today was beyond hectic with a ton of kids in and out of my office wanting to change classes or lunch periods or see if there was any way that they could have fewer classes, less work, and more credits. Sound familiar?!? So, I have to admit that as the hours tick by on a day like today the small, simple things truly entertain me. For example, the number of students who come in and ask for their locker combination. (For the record, I cannot look up your locker combinations, you must go to student services for that information.) I couldn't help but laugh that we have already forgotten locker combinations since it was just a long weekend, but oh well, too much on your mind I guess. I hope that you enjoyed the start of your 2nd semester classes!

Get Organized!

I hope that you are staying warm and enjoying the long (but freezing cold) weekend. Since most of you are likely spending lots of time inside you may be looking for things to do to stay busy. I know it is not on the top of your list, but one recommendation is to spend a little time this weekend getting organized for the start of the second semester. Go through your materials from first semester. Store information that is interesting and will be potentially useful to you in the future from semester classes that are now over. For year-long classes, keep your first semester materials, but review your papers, notes, and handouts to see if you need to continue carrying it to school or if you could store it at home until closer to final exam time. Clean out your bookbag, take a critical look at what you have and consider what you will need for second semester. Make a list of supplies you need - new folders, binders, papers, pencils/ pens, etc. and try to get them before Tuesday so that you start off on a positive note. If organization is a struggle for you, remember that I am available (as are the academic assistants in Room 209) to help you with new organization strategies that might work out better. Enjoy the rest of your weekend - and happy organizing. :-)

Letter of Intent

Congratulations to Carolyn Cann who signed her national letter of intent to run at Cedarville University. Carolyn had her "signing" ceremony on Monday after school and she was joined by her mom, Coach Williams, teammates, friends, and even her new coaches from Cedarville attended to show their support and to welcome Carolyn to their team. Congratulations Carolyn! We are proud of you!

Registering for Classes

I am sure you are all excited that tomorrow is the last day of exams and that after 1/2 a day of school you will have 4 days off (Friday through Monday). When we start back on Tuesday you will be in your new 2nd semester classes. Most of you have already taken care of any necessary schedule changes. I have quite a few updated schedules on my desk that students still need to pick up, so I hope you stop by to grab your schedule before heading to class on Tuesday. If we need to work on schedule changes - especially for those students who ended up failing a class this semester, please come and see me as soon as possible. Don't forget, you have the first three (3) days of a semester to add a class. (You have a little longer to drop a class without it appearing on your transcript IF you have enough classes to stay above the minimum requirements.)

While it doesn't seem possible, I have been spending a lot of time trying to get ready for the scheduling of classes for NEXT school year! Just to give you a sneak peek - students will be receiving registration information during homeroom on January 30th and then you will be registering for classes ONLINE! I am pretty excited about the new system as I think it will help eliminate any data entry errors... unless of course you don't actually pick the classes that you wanted to take when you enter it online. :-) Once again this year I will be planning to meet with every junior and hopefully your parents in individual meetings to discuss your senior year schedule and your plans for life after high school. I am so thankful that I had these meetings with my current seniors as it helped me get to know them better. Lots of details to come about these meetings and the online registration process as a whole.

Enjoy your LAST day of the First Semester!!! Good luck on your exams.

Good Luck on Exams

Tomorrow starts the semester exams. The good news is that you have reached the half-way point of the school year... plus this is a 4-day week.

Hopefully you already know it, but here is the exam schedule for the week:

Tuesday exams are for 3rd, 4th, and 7th period classes

Wednesday exams are for 2nd, 5th, and 8th period classes

Thursday exams are for 1st and 6th period classes

Good Luck Studying!!

Ice Sports

Last night I had a brand new experience as I watched a sport for the first time in my life – curling. Five Kilbourne students participate in a Curling League. I know less than nothing about curling, although one student and one parent did try to give us some basic information about the game. So, what I do know is that teams of 4 people slide these heavy (42 pounds) rocks or stones or something like that across the ice and try to get them to land in a circle on the other end of the ice. There is a lot of running alongside the rock as it makes the way down the ice and brushing of the ice to get it to move more in a particular direction. Occasionally people fall down and as long as they were not hurt it was comical. The entire student section kept me thoroughly entertained throughout the evening with their commentary, vanilla wafers, and doing the wave. Needless to say, I laughed a lot and had a good time, but it was quite cold!

Before watching curling I saw the Wolves Ice Hockey team win an impressive game against DeSales. The team has a significant number of players out due to injuries which means the remaining players are on the ice A TON! It also makes their victory that much more exciting. Way to go guys!

Birthday Boy

Today my nephew, Cole, turns 2 years old! Cole is all boy – he likes balls, being outside, trains, cars, trucks and most of all, tractors. He is always on the move so he had a birthday party in Kentucky at a “jumping” party place. According to my sister he had a great time and was worn out after the party. Cole also shares a birthday with my mom – what a great present it was for her to have her first grandson born on her birthday… and I don’t think she minds sharing a birthday with him. :-)

Hope you are having a great weekend and getting lots of studying done!

PLAN Test Results

The PLAN test results have arrived! Any sophomore who took the test can stop by the Counseling Center to pick up your results at your convenience. After you review your PLAN test results, feel free to let me know if you have any questions that I can help answer for you.

2nd Semester Schedules

Today probably came close for a record number of students stopping by my office... and while I would love to think it is because you all thoroughly enjoy my company - the reality is everyone wanted changes to their 2nd semester schedules. (I should have known that would happen after you received the printout of your schedules during homeroom.) With the computers being down AGAIN, it was hard to make all of the adjustments as requested. If you want to change a course for next semester, stop in and see me - I can't guarantee anything, but I am willing to see what I can do to help you. Speaking of schedules - just a quick heads up - at the end of this month we will start with course registrations for NEXT year. My how time flies!

Anxious about Future

Now that we have had a few days back at school I have realized how many of the seniors are struggling with mixed emotions about the future. Sure, many of you are excited to graduate and be done with high school, but that also means the future, starting college, getting jobs, and being "adults" is just around the corner. I know that this is a time of high anxiety and remember, I am here to help support you. Please, do NOT sabotage yourself and your grades in your classes as a *solution* to not feeling ready to leave high school. Stop in and see me - let me know how you are feeling about high school coming to an end. I look forward to chatting with you soon!

Go Bucks!

Well, just a quick post tonight before the National Championship game. Good luck to the Buckeyes as they take on LSU. I'm sure many of you will be up late tonight watching the game... so I hope you are able to get some rest before school tomorrow. :-)

Since I am posting about Ohio State I will include a picture of me on OSU's campus as a part of my "Oh the Places You'll Go Display" - which by the way I only have 2 student pictures of OSU campus visits. This picture is in front of the R-PAC (Recreation and Physical Activity Center). It is a new and very impressive building.

(Please don't forget - I am still collecting pictures from your college visits, so if you still have your picture please bring it in - and if you head out to make visits after you receive your college admissions letters, please remember to take a picture and bring it in. Thanks!)

Another reminder - tomorrow night at 7pm is the Financial Aid meeting. Let your parents know that we will be meeting in Room 207.

January Students of the Month

Congratulations to the 22 students who were honored Friday morning as Students of the Month. Kilbourne students can only be selected to receive this recognition once in their high school career.

A special congratulations to "my" students who were honored. This includes (Left to Right) Zach DeAndreo, Amin Benzegala, Brian Blum, Haley Blanton, and Brittany Hammond. Other students were honored that were not present at the ceremony including Aurura Braig, Josh Burton, and Daron DiSabato.

College Admissions Decisions

As more and more students begin hearing from colleges I thought it might be helpful to know some of the most common terms you will see in response letters from colleges. Below are some of the more common college related terms/ phrases for admissions decisions. If your son/ daughter receives a letter and you are uncertain what they mean, please feel free to let me know or to contact the college directly.

- Accepted: Congratulations - they are inviting you to join and be a part of their college/ university

- Declined/ Rejected/ Not Accepted: For whatever reason the college did not feel that you would be a good fit. While it is understandably disappointing, please remember that there are lots of colleges and universities out there so don’t give up on finding a good match.

- Decision Deferred: The college is not sure yet… usually they will tell you what additional data/ information they are interested in receiving to help them make their decision. The most common piece of data they will look for are senior year grades at the semester time.

- Wait List: The wait list is not a denial, but it is not an acceptance either. Colleges use wait lists as insurance to make sure that their freshman class will be the appropriate size. If enough students decide to attend, the college will not accept anyone off of their wait-list.

Back to School

Well, tomorrow is the big day - we are back to school. No more sleeping in and hanging out relaxing all day. I am looking forward to seeing you, but, to be honest, I am not really ready to be back at work yet. So, help me out and stop down to say hi. Let me know how your time off was and what you did to occupy your time. Get some sleep tonight - it will seem really early tomorrow when the alarms start going off. :-)

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a safe and enjoyable New Year's eve. Now that we are in 2008 it is time to start planning ahead. For the seniors, I am sure that I do not need to point out that 6 months from today you will graduate! That also means that there is a lot left for you to do in preparation for college. One of the big components of this college process is the financial side - applying for financial aid and scholarships.

You can now officially complete your FAFSA form. (Don't forget the meeting on January 8th to help answer questions about this process.) You and your parents will need a pin number - it is a number that you will NEED and you must keep this for the future as it is the same number for all of your future FAFSA applications (which happens every year of college). To apply for a pin visit this website.

Also, be sure that you are researching and applying for any outside scholarships that you qualify for as this can be a helpful financial resource. And yes, I know that the scholarship applications are often a lot of work and include essays, but if you end up earning one of the scholarships it would be worth it. You can visit the scholarship section on PrepHQ for scholarships that we are aware of at WKHS and you can also do general internet searches using lots of scholarship search engines. Good luck!

Once again, Happy New Year!