Ohio Dominican University

Ohio Dominican University is one of many schools in central Ohio. They shared big news in the world of athletics this week - they applied for and were approved to become an NCAA - Division 2 school. They are officially an "exploratory member" which is standard process. Prior to this, ODU was a part of the NAIA. Ohio Dominican University will be the only central Ohio school to be in the NCAA - Division 2 and will compete in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference. Three other Ohio schools (Ashland University, University of Findlay, and Tiffin University) are in division 2 and compete in this conference.

College Rankings

There are a lot of different resources available for students to get a better idea about different colleges and how life might be on campus. Nothing can replace your impression of the campus and how you can (or cannot) imagine fitting in at a particular school, but there other tools such as school websites, visits with admissions representatives, and books or other resources all have information that can help round out your view of a school. Many people put a great deal of stock into college rankings and today Princeton Review released their updated "The Best 368 Colleges" book which features summaries of different schools and lists "Top 20's" for 62 different categories. There is some very interesting information that you can find by reading these lists. For example, if you love sports then it should be a big warning to you if you find that your top choice of college is on the "Nobody plays intramural sports" and "Intercollegiate Sports Unpopular or Nonexistent" lists. I do want to caution you - do not read too much into just this resource - use it as one source. For example, when you read things like top party schools (which OU is on the list for at #5) you will find that some students might be responding in a way that they want people to perceive a school and also it is important to keep this in perspective because students can find and make college into whatever experiene they want. Obviously since they are highlighting 368 colleges all schools are not included. Enjoy checking to see where your colleges of choice fall on the various lists.

WKHS Counselors

At the end of the 2007-08 school year, two of the WKHS counselors, Mrs. Stamm and Mrs. Byer, retired. While it was certainly sad to see them leave we are excited for the new adventures ahead of them in retirement. Their departure has meant staffing changes for the Counseling Department. The three returning counselors (me, Ms. Schwartz, and Mrs. Smith) will be joined in the fall with a new counselor, Mrs. Gratz, who is coming to us from Kilbourne Middle School. The department will also be reorgnized with every counselor having a portion of the alphabet covering all grade levels. So, for example, I will be working with all students in grades 9-12 with last names beginning with the letters A- El. I suspect it will take me a while to get that right because even when typing it just now I still wrote in A - Do. :-) I am excited to get to know my new students and it will be nice being able to work with students all 4 years of their high school career. In case you are curious, here is the counselor breakdown...

Miss Abbott - A to El

Mrs. Gratz - Em to K

Miss Schwartz - L to Rh

Mrs. Smith - Ri to Z

Some Sad News...

Unfortunately, I have some sad news to share with you. We learned that Mr. Shafer passed away yesterday morning at St. Ann's Hospital. As you may be aware, Mr. Shafer was a global languages teacher at WKHS who retired at the end of this year. Among other classes, he was the AP Spanish teacher. As of the last update we received, arrangements were still pending.

Update: We learned that Mr. Shafer had requested not to have calling hours. There may be a memorial service at a later date, but as of this moment nothing is planned yet.

Update 7/26/08 - Mr. Shafer's obituary appeared in the Columbus Dispatch today... here is what it says:

SHAFER Terry A. Shafer, age 55, an extraordinary husband, teacher and friend, passed away Saturday, July 19, 2008, at Mt. Carmel St. Ann's Hospital. He graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Master of Arts in Romance Languages and Literature. Terry was a recent retiree from Worthington Public Schools and taught Spanish at Thomas Worthington and Worthington Kilbourne High Schools. He loved "his kids." Terry was passionate about life and people of all cultures. He was loved and will be missed by many family- members and friends. Survived by his beloved wife, Barbara Shafer; father, Donald Shafer and Katherine Bigg of New Port Richey, FL; mother, Beatrice Nellis of Warren, OH; daughter, Novella Wade; brothers, Vaughn (Sandy) Shafer of Warren, OH, Donnie (Joan) Shafer of Spring, TX; sister, Cheryl (Neil) Robertson of Duncansville, PA; special friends, Roberto Gonzalez, Kim Gonzalez, Don Nichols and Kathy Dixon-Nichols; and the best doggie in the world, Papa Chuy. Terry requested that he be cremated (to save space on our precious earth) which is being handled by HILL FUNERAL HOME. A gathering to celebrate Terry's life will be held at a later date. If desired, donations may be made to the Terry Shafer Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Worthington Kilbourne HS PTO, 1499 Hard Rd., Worthington, OH 43235.

Tests Optional

Hello! Remember me?!? I can't believe it has been over a week since I posted an update. I am sorry for the delay, but I have been out of town and had limited computer access while gone. I have lots of stories, pictures including a few college visits along the way to share with you in coming posts, but since it has been so long between updates I wanted to jump back into things with an "informative" post... so stop back again soon if you want to learn more about where I was this past week. :-)

The last time that I updated we were talking about ACT and SAT tests and how the scores compare to one another. I know that the college admissions tests can be stressful to students (and parents), but it is important to know that not every college requires strong test scores... in fact, there are many colleges that do not require test scores when evaluating applicants for admission. The website Fair Test is the National Center for Fair and Open Testing. Their site features a list of colleges that are test score optional schools. This hopefully reminds you that any one aspect of your college application does not make or break you - there are always more options to explore until you find the college that is the best fit for you. So please, don't allow the college admissions tests give you nightmares!

College Admissions Tests

The ACT and SAT tests are a part of the lives of nearly all high school students. As a school counselor I receive questions about these tests all the time - which test should I take, do I *have* to take a test, how many times should I take a test, what does my score mean, what if I didn't score as high as I think I should have and how do you figure out how the scores compare to one another... and quite honestly the list goes on and on.

Today, let's talk for a second about the score comparisons. A lot of you took both the ACT and SAT this spring and have received their scores and are now considering which test to take again in the fall. It's important to review the requirements for the schools you are considering and see what they are looking for and where you fall compared to their averages. Some students will want to repeat both tests and some will elect to focus on the test they did "better" on the first time through and try to improve that score.

But how do you know which test you did "better" on? Well, the ACT and SAT recently released concordance tables to help students (and colleges) compare scores for students across the different tests. I'll be honest - these tables can seem a little confusing at first, but if you read the information on the pages prior to the tables then you will understand them easily. Table 1 will let you compare your SAT score based on a 1600 scale with the ACT without writing. Most of you will have taken the ACT with writing (and you NEED to take it with writing in the future as colleges are moving toward considering the writing test more and more) so you will be use the data on Table 2 to get the writing score and then you will add that to the results from Table 1 to get an accurate overall score based upon the 2400 scale.

Try not to get stressed out about the college admissions tests... I know it can be frustrating, but remember it is only one piece to the puzzle that the colleges will be considering when evaluating students!

Summer Fun

I hope that you are having a great summer and that your 4th of July holiday was safe and enjoyable. When updating this blog I try to strike a balance between educational and fun and so I decided it was time for a "fun update" to tell you about my summer. I have spent several weeks with my niece and nephew (and my sister and her husband...) which has been a blast. I love Carly and Cole so much and it is great to have summers off so that I can spend some quality time just hanging out with them.

They are so much fun to be around, but are in constant motion. The best part about any time spent with them is when they just want to come up and cuddle. The first night that I arrived both kids were wired and were running throughout the house screaming and yelling with excitement (wow - to think that a visit from "Aunt Bri" is that exciting is crazy...) and then I ended up with my niece hanging onto my back and my nephew launching himself into my arms. It was quite a welcome!

While in Kentucky I was able to watch bits and pieces of Carly at cheerleading camp, golf lessons and swimming lessons. I also saw both of them at Vacation Bible School. Cole loves tractors and can tell me the "right" names for different pieces of equipment we pass - "Excavator, Hay Baler" - I don't know how to spell them let alone know what they look like or what they do, but he thinks it is great. He is 2 and a half now so they are also working on potty training which is comical to say the least. He is a boy in constant motion so I don't have any good pictures of me with him, but I think these two pictures of him eating ice cream are too cute!

Carly (pictured at the top of the page with me) is still all princess and loves to dress up and play pretend. She likes to color and draw and is really looking forward to starting kindergarten this year.

They have certainly been the highlight of my summer. Besides hanging out with them my other summer highlight is the fact that the Olympics are coming soon - (August 8th which is 33 days and 7 hours, 48 minutes from when I am writing this...) Yes, I love sports and I love the Olympics and everything that it involves so I am enjoying watching the trials and looking forward to the start of the Olympics. I am working on getting my niece excited about them too and she watched some of the trials and highlights online with me as well as a little bit on TV. My sister just rolls her eyes and laughs. :-) It's ok... you can too. :-)

Well, that pretty much brings you up to speed on how I have been spending my summer vacation. I hope that you are enjoying your time off just as much and I would love to hear about the fun things you are doing. Stay Safe and Enjoy!

The Common Application

It's July 1st! That means many things - the first month of summer is over, fireworks are coming soon, and the common application is now up for next year. (OK, so maybe the last one wasn't on your list, but if you are entering your senior year - it should be!) :-)

The Common Application is a centralized application that students can complete for over 300 different colleges. The colleges that participate in this application method commit to treating applications received through the Common App with the same consideration as if students had applied through the institutions idividual application. This will generally mean that you have to spend less time filling out all of the basic information about yourself and can mean that you have fewer essays to write (but maybe not).

On the common app there are two essays - one short answer (150 words) and one long essay which is to answer one of the following questions:
- Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
- Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
- Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
- Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
- A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
- Topic of your choice.

Then, the "tricky" part of it all is that many of the schools will also have supplements required which are other questions of their own that they want students to complete. Sometimes it is just simple questions that weren't covered on the common app, but would have been if you had applied through their individual application, but often times it includes short or long answer essays. Be aware and be prepared for that when completing your application.

Not all schools use the common app - there are 9 Ohio schools which utilize the common application, but as you are getting ready to start applications for the schools you are considering it is worth your time to look and see if more than one school uses the common app.