Making Your Resume

I hope you are having a great summer - I now really feel like it is summer and am enjoying the time off! Hopefully you are also balancing being productive with having fun this summer.

If you are wondering what you should be doing this summer, one of the items that I hope you have on your "To Do" list is to create or update your resume.

Now, it doesn't have to be a formal resume, but it is important to compile a list of:

- all of your activities including clubs, community groups, and sports

- awards received - it is helpful to know the award name, who it was from and reason for the recognition

- community service commitments with hours

- employment with hours

You can do this informally (just don't lose it!) on a sheet of paper or you can use the resume feature in PrepHQ to add your list there. One thing I really like about the PrepHQ resume builder is that you can tell it to create a resume for you and it will format it for you to be able to print in case you need a formal resume for a job application or for a college application.

Adding to and keeping this list updated is an important step for students of every age because when you sit down to start working on your college applications they are going to ask you over and over again to list out these types of items so having a complete list is key. I also hope it goes without saying that not only should the list be complete, but it should also be ACCURATE! Do NOT make up activities, awards, or other involvement that you did not participate in and did not earn!

Congratulations Nick!

This year was an incredible season for the lacrosse team, but more specifically it was an amazing season for Nick Beattie.

Nick received many awards/ recognitions at the end of the year including:

- 1st Team All American

- Attacker (Think Offensive Position) of the Year for Ohio

- 1st Team All Ohio

- OCC Player of the Year

- Sports Illustrated Top 100 Lacrosse players in the nation (#53 overall and #13 attack position)

There may be more recognitions that he received, but these are the ones that I was aware of - Congratulations Nick!

(Pictured is Nick talking to his brother, Alex, after a game.)

With Humility and Gratitude...

So, I have gone back and forth trying to decide if I should mention this on my blog or not, but after a great deal of thought I decided that if I couldn't share good and exciting news with my students then why was I even in this job... but I don't want you to think I am bragging!

At the end of each year the WKHS PTO host a staff lunch to show appreciation to all of the staff members for another great year. During this lunch, they also present a few awards and I was among those honored this year. (I couldn't believe it and about crawled under the table!!) As I understand it there were several parents who submitted nice comments about me to the PTO as a part of the nomination/ voting process. I was floored and while I am extremely grateful to those parents and the WKHS PTO for this recognition, I truly believe that I am the lucky one to have the honor of working with you each day!

In case you or your parents were among those who helped in this recognition - I wish that I could thank each of you individually, but since they were confidential I am unable to do that, but I hope you know how much I appreciate your kindness!

Summer School Reminder

Summer School begins on Monday at Thomas Worthington High School. The first session runs from June 16th through July 3rd. The second session is July 7th through July 24th. If you failed a class or were hoping to get ahead on a course, please be sure that you sign up and get started on Monday.

I called and left messages for everyone who had failed a class. (Which means that those of you who are anxiously awaiting your grade cards to find out if you ended up passing a class or not... if you didn't hear from me - Congratulations! You passed!) I sincerely hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to attend summer school so that you will not fall behind your class.

I hope you have enjoyed the first week of your summer! My last "official" day for the school year was yesterday, but somehow I didn't manage getting everything done so I worked another 5 days today and will have to put in a few hours again next week so that we will be good to go for next year.

A Second Try...

I have been busy at work sorting through all of the failures and figuring out options to help students make up classes in summer school or next year. I cannot believe you have only been gone from the building for a few days as it feels like time moves so slow without students around.

I saw this article today and thought you would think it was interesting too. Can you imagine receiving a diploma that said, "educaiton?" The moral of the story is to remember that you are NEVER too old or too experienced to have someone else help proofread your work.

School's Out!

Wow, it doesn't seem possible, but we have reached the end of a very successful school year. I am sure that you are all breathing a sigh of relief that exams are over and summer has finally started.

My guess is that I will still see quite a few of you tomorrow at the lacrosse state championship game, but if I do not, I hope you have a wonderful, safe and relaxing summer!

I will still be working through next Thursday trying to readjust all of the schedules based upon failures and working to arrange for students to make up credits in summer school. After next week I will still check e-mails routinely, but will not be in the school or checking voicemail messages. If you need to reach me e-mail is definitely the best option. As for the blog - I will still update it during the summer, but not as often. I am currently thinking one or two updates a week, but we will see... I don't want you to get out of the habit of reading the blog, but I also don't want to bore you with mindless chatter.

Before I close I would like to share a special thank you to all of the anonymous parents and students who submitted my name for the "Staff Member of the Year" award that the PTO presents each year. Today I was a co-winner of this recognition with Kristy Smith, one of the other counselors. I am very humbled and honored, but I sincerely believe I was the lucky one to have worked with so many incredible people this year. Thank you again to everyone who felt that I deserved this honor. I appreciate your kindness - it was a great end to a very memorable year!

Enjoy your summer!

Championship Quest

Several track and field athletes and the guys lacrosse team are all still participating in the state tournament with their final match-ups coming this weekend.

A very special good luck to runners (L to R) Carolyn Cann, John Batchelder, and Philip Bunting.

John and Phil are two of the members of the 4 x 800 team that will run tomorrow (Friday) night at 5:00pm at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

On Saturday, Carolyn will run in the 800 and John will run again in the 800.

Good luck to all three of you and your teammates!

I'd also like to wish the members of the boys lacrosse team good luck as they take on Upper Arlington for the lacrosse state title. The state championship game is on Saturday night at 5:00pm at Dublin Coffman High School. Kilbourne has taken on UA two times already this season and many times over the past 17 years, but has yet to walk away with the victory... hopefully this weekend will be the game that reverses that pattern! I have "a few" of the lacrosse athletes - Nick Beattie, Ben Groff, Will Campbell, Luke Bott, Tim Davis, Daron DiSabato, Harrison Bassani, Josh Burton, Juan Contreras, Johnathan Carroll, and Jason Clark. Good luck to each of you and the rest of the team!

Good Luck on Exams!

Final Exam time... the stress of having 20% of your grade in one test combined with the anticipation with finally being done with another school year. I know this can be an overwhelming time, but hang in there. The time you spend studying will determine how well you do on your exam, so please take the time to study! Many of you have been in to see me in the past two days to see your schedule for next year and if you haven't had a chance to stop in yet you are welcome to do so in the next three days during lunch or any off times.

For those of you needing a reminder about the exam schedule:

Wednesday:
7:45 - 9:45 2nd period exam
10:00 - 12:00 5th period exam
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch
1:05 - 3:05 8th period exam

Thursday:
7:45 - 9:45 1st period exam
10:00 - 12:00 6th period exam
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch
1:05 - 3:05 7th period exam

Friday:
7:45 - 9:45 3rd period exam
10:00 - 12:00 4th period exam
12:00 - 1:00 NO Lunch Provided!
1:05 - 3:05 Exam Make Up Period


On a separate note - CONGRATULATIONS to the boys lacrosse team who beat Hudson tonight to advance to the State Championship game on Saturday.

Diploma Presenter

I love traditions! One of the traditions which I believe provides a great deal of meaning to the WKHS graduation ceremony is that every student is allowed to pick someone from their 12 years of education to present them with their diploma. This individual can be a teacher, coach, or other staff member – even their counselor.

This year I had the distinct honor to be able to present 9 of “my” students with their diplomas. I have had many people do incredibly kind and thoughtful things for me, but I cannot imagine an honor as special as being able to give a student their diploma at graduation. I was absolutely floored and completely shocked when I found out which students (and quite honestly that ANY students) had asked that I give them their diploma. It was a memory I will cherish!

During the graduation ceremony, my favorite moment with each of the students that I was presenting diplomas to was not when we stood on stage together and I actually gave them their diploma. My favorite moment came before their name was called when the student was standing at the bottom of the stairs and I was at the back of the stage waiting to walk forward and meet them. With each of the nine students I had the chance to look at them and in that moment, when I caught their eye – I can’t even put into words how proud, excited, honored, and most of all grateful that these wonderful students have been a part of my life.

Andy Gottesman was kind enough to take a group picture of the students to whom I was presenting diplomas. Pictured Clockwise from the back left: Mitch Dickson, Nick Beattie, Loren Cellentani, Carly Coulter, Joey Colarossi, Mitch Anglin, Matt Bobson, Matt Bear, and Adam Baybutt.

To each of these students (in case you are reading this) – thank you for allowing me to share in your special day! You each mean the world to me and I am thankful that I had the privilege to know and work with you. I cannot wait to see the difference you will make in the world. Thank you for brightening my days throughout the year and for always giving me a reason to smile! I wish you nothing but the best in the future!

I’d also like to offer a special thank you to Andy Gottesman for his patience and flexibility in taking the pictures. I really do appreciate your willingness to help me capture a picture of something that means so much to me. I will always treasure it! Andy was kind enough to show me many other pictures that he captured at graduation and hopefully you will see them in the paper next week because they turned out great.

Congratulations Graduates!

Congratulations to the Class of 2008! Today was a beautiful day and was filled with many great moments. It was so exciting to see each student walk across the stage, receive their diploma and to celebrate their 12 years of education. It was great for me to watch as "my kids" marched out after the ceremony - now you are officially "former students" and yet I will always care about you. I was so proud and excited for Alex DiBartola (class president) who did a great job with his graduation speech and for Phil Bunting who was inducted into the WKHS Hall of Fame! Congratulations to both of you!

I'll be honest, I have more to blog about regarding graduation, but I am tired and need a picture that Andy Gottesman has promised to send to me... so I will post more about graduation soon. Hope you had a good weekend.

(The picture is my niece, Carly, playing dress up in a cap and gown...)