Victory!

Congratulations to the WKHS Guys Lacrosse Team who won a great game over Upper Arlington tonight 10 - 8! This is the first time in Kilbourne history (17 years) that the WKHS lacrosse team has won against UA. A special congratulations to "my" students who are on the guys varsity lacrosse team including: Will Campbell, Tim Davis, Josh Burton, Colt Carnahan, Juan Contreras, Luke Bott, and Charlie Bassani. I am happy for all of you as your hard work has finally paid off!

There was a great deal of student (and community) support at the game tonight and the students rushed the field following the game to join in on the celebration. It was certainly exciting and I am sure it is a relief to the athletes to finally have the win over UA.

Evening Credit Recovery Program

The credit recovery program is one of the areas that results in a large number of questions and a great deal of confusion among students and parents. Basically, this program is designed to allow students that have previously failed a required course to repeat the class and earn credit needed for graduation. Not every required class is offered through credit recovery, but it does include a wide range of courses.

This program is not designed for students who failed just a quarter or didn't do well, but still passed the class for the semester - it is only for semester failures. Many people are often confused thinking that this is a tutoring program and it is not. Credit recovery is an online, self-paced, mastery opportunity for students to move through their required coursework to make up the credit they had previously failed. Students log on, read the required material and take quizzes and tests over the information. Many courses also include writing papers and/ or reading books. Students are given a maximum of 7 weeks to complete a semester's worth of work through credit recovery and you can work at your own pace through the material. After successfully completing the course, the new grade is added to your transcript.

The evening credit recovery program, new this semester at WKHS, is unique because it features teachers available to assist students with their work and to help answer questions. Students attend on Monday and Wednesday afternoons from 3:00 to 5:00pm in room 140.

The cost for this program is $125. If you successfully earn the semester of credit, you/ your parents receive a refund of $25. (Discount available if student is eligible for Free or Reduced Lunch program.)

The final day to register for the evening credit recovery program this year is next Monday, May 4th from 3:00 – 5:00pm in Room 140. Please bring check (made payable to Worthington Schools) and completed registration form (available in my office and it requires my signature) with you to register.

Senior Survey

Seniors, please, take a few minutes to log into PrepHQ and complete your Senior Survey! The link to the survey is located in PrepHQ beneath the "My Organizer" section and is titled "Surveys." You heard about the survey in the Senior Newsletter and during the last few class meetings, but very few of you have actually completed your survey. They are due by Friday, May 1st! (This Friday!)

The information collected about colleges and scholarships will be used when putting together the information for Senior Recognition Night and when they are creating the graduation program so it is very important that the information is accurate! (For example, last year a student called one scholarship by the wrong name and the parents were upset that it was listed wrong, so please double check to give the correct details.) If students do not complete the survey the school will not have anything to list in the commencement program, so please take a few minutes and complete the survey!

If you cannot remember your PrepHQ password, come and see me and I can let you reset it. As always, if you have any questions about your survey, stop in and see me.

Making the Final College Decision

This is the final week for seniors who are trying to decide what college they will be attending next year. Remember, there is no right or wrong choice – it is all about what school is the best fit for you and your individual wants and needs in a college. Try to take a deep breath and relax as we head into this week. Trust yourself and know that you will be successful in the future – no matter where you end up!

As you think about your different schools and compare and contrast them, it is essential that you determine what you really want in a school and what is most important to you in a college. If you are still struggling with your choice, then chances are pretty good that the schools that you have narrowed your decision down to are probably relatively similar.

Take the time to go back and look at the same factors you considered when picking which schools you wanted to apply to and try to get really picky about the different factors that played into your choice. Perhaps creating a chart can help you clarify how important each factor is to you and how each school compares in that category. For example, think about the location of the school. How important is that issue to you in picking a college? The schools are likely within your comfort zone of a location from home, but when looking at two colleges consider how far or close they are from your family. What does it mean to you if the school is 10 minutes away, 4 hours away, or a flight away? How important is it to you to be able to come home for an evening, a weekend, or a holiday? You can also look at the size of the school. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of the different sizes of schools. For example, the larger school might provide additional choices and the smaller school may provide better teacher/ student ratios. What is more important to you? And if both are important to you then you will need to consider what you will do to adapt to make sure that the school will meet your needs. Consider the social life and activities on and around the campus. Is it what you picture for your college years? Most importantly, you need to figure out what categories and issues are critical to you and compare the school on those aspects.

I know that the time remaining is very limited, but if your school comparison charts are similar and you still can’t decide – go visit the schools again. Sit in on the classes and, if possible, arrange for an overnight visit (yes, you are really running out of time for overnight visits). People watch and consider your interactions with the students on campus. Are the students friendlier at one school over the other? What about the professors that you talk to? Are they engaging and whose classes are you most interested in attending? How was school safety? What strategies are in place to help keep students safe? Which campus support staff (admissions, financial aid, etc.) is friendlier and more helpful? (While this is not necessarily a key factor it can give you an image of the school and a glimpse at their values as an academic institution.)

Ask yourself if the school will meet your academic needs, if you will have the social life you desire, and if your family can make the investment. As you are progressing through your decision making process, remember not to be shy about asking questions and getting them answered because you are entitled to feel confident in your decision. This is your choice. You are not a victim in this process – you are the key active participant. Remember that if you want to stop in and talk about your college decision I am always here for you, but know that I can’t make this decision for you – just like your family and friends can’t make this choice for you. The good news – the stress is almost over and you will be relieved to be able to finally answer the question that everyone asks endlessly of “Where are you going to college?”

Way to go Irish!

I had such a great day today! This morning I went to Ohio Stadium to watch as Notre Dame played (and beat) OSU in lacrosse. Nick Beattie, one of my former students, is on the Notre Dame lacrosse team. As a freshman in a Division-1 program, I honestly didn't know if Nick would even have a chance to play, but just seeing him in his uniform on the field the first time literally gave me chills. I didn't have to worry about whether or not Nick would get in the game because not only did he play, but he also scored a goal! It was absolutely incredible! I was so excited for and proud of Nick!

Another former student, Andy Gottesman, was on the sidelines of today's game taking pictures for the Lantern (OSU newspaper) where he is the Multimedia Editor. Andy was kind enough to send me a couple of the pictures that he took of Nick from the game.

Seriously, when you see these pictures is it any wonder that as a freshman he has already worked his way into an editor position?!? Wow!

Community Service Opportunity

I know that many of you are looking for easy, short-term community service opportunities and I wanted to pass along a request for volunteers that we received today.

Phoneix Middle School is hosting a community wide garage sale on Saturday, May 2nd and they are in need of students to assist with tearing down after the garage sale is over around 2:00pm. Anyone interested in earning community service hours is invited to help! You can either just show up at the school to help or (and I would recommend this) contact their point-person at chu.barbara@gmail.com.

National Testing Day

The Princeton Review, a college admissions test prep company, is offering a national testing day this Saturday, April 25th. On this day they are offering students the opportunity to take a free practice ACT or SAT. There are several locations throughout the central Ohio area that will be administering the free assessments and the tests run from 9:00am - 1:30pm. Advance registration is necessary, so if you would like more information, please visit their website to sign up.

(For the record, I am not saying that students need to take one of these tests or that you need to take a test prep course, but some people find it helpful for students to be exposed to the tests and testing environments which is part of the reason people will frequently repeat a test to see if they can improve upon their scores. And, more importantly, it is an opportunity available to you and so I wanted to make sure you were aware of it in case you are interested.)

I will remind you that taking one of these tests will, obviously, add you to their mailing/ contact list and I am sure they will use this as an opportunity to reach out to you as a potential future student for one of their test prep courses.

Multicultural College Fair

The 2009 Multicultural College Fair will be Wednesday, April 22nd at Vineyard Community Center, 6000 Cooper Rd. in Westerville from 6 – 8 pm.

This college fair is free and will provide a format for exchanging and disseminating information to families with students exploring plans for after high school. In addition to traditional information tables, two breakout sessions will be offered– Financial Aid at 6:00 and 6:45 p.m.; and College 101, also at 6:00 and 6:45 p.m.

Seven suburban school districts are sponsoring the event – Dublin, Gahanna, Hilliard, New Albany, Reynoldsburg, Westerville and Worthington.

Diploma Presenters

A reminder to all seniors - if you plan on asking someone to present you with your diploma at graduation - the deadline for submitting your presenter request form to the co-curricular office was (technically) last Friday, but Mr. King is extending the deadline as only about 60% of the students have submitted a presenter form. I love the fact that you all have this opportunity as a way to make graduation an even more memorable experience. If you do not select someone to give you your diploma, an administrator from WKHS or central office or a school board member will present your diploma to you.

Also, there are several boxes of caps and gowns that have been delivered and are waiting for you to pick up in the co-curricular office. If you have not picked up your cap and gown, please stop in and see Mr. King or Mrs. Jacobs.

Report Cards

Report cards for the 3rd grading period were distributed on Friday. When looking at grades I quickly realized that this was one of the worst quarters for students, but I want to remind you that you have 9 weeks left plus exams. Most classes function on a 40/40/20 principle which means that 40% of your grade is now finished, but you still have 60% remaining. Every point matters - so please do your best to finish the school year strong. If you need ideas and strategies about how to turn things around academically, please stop in to see me!

Interesting News Articles Regarding College Acceptances

I recently read this article that was in the LA Times written by a College Admissions officer from Pitzer College, in California. It is very insightful and I strongly recommend that you read the whole piece. When I read it I thought of so many students who have been struggling after receiving admissions decisions (especially if they didn't get the news they had wanted) and felt as if they had done everything right, but it still wasn't enough. This article points out the sentiment that I have shared often that you all are amazing individuals with incredible talents and will be valuable contributors on your college campuses and in the future. Yet, there is not just one perfect school - it is about finding a good match - for both you and the college.

I also came across the following information from the Yale Admitted Students Website. And although we have not had any students accepted to Yale thus far in my time at WKHS, the information shared are applicable for ANY colleges that you are considering.

What to Do When They ACCEPT You!
By Jeff Brenzel

For the past year, you have likely focused heavily on where to apply, and then how to win the hearts of admissions officers. Oddly, this effort may have left you surprisingly unprepared for a task that is just as challenging, but far more important: deciding where to go now that you (undoubtedly) have choices.

After some years of observing what happens now, I’ve cobbled together a few words of advice that I hope will be useful to you:

1) As your responses come back, you may receive some rejections, and if you do, you will tend to dwell on them. It’s only natural - what you didn’t get and can’t have may suddenly seem infinitely more valuable than what you did get and can have. You will tempted to revisit every step of your high school career and your application process, pondering what you might have done differently to produce a different outcome. But there is one and only one good answer to any thin envelope you may receive, dream school or not: “Your loss, baby.” Then move on to step two.

2) After all your trials of selecting, applying and waiting, the universe has done the final winnowing for you. Be grateful, because the outcome is wonderful: you are now looking at a handful of admission tickets to the greatest shows on earth. Every one of your colleges has infinitely more opportunities to offer than you could pursue in a lifetime. At one of these places you are going to take friendship to a new level, go adventuring and exploring to your heart’s content, make your own decisions about what to do and how to do it, perhaps develop a permanent intellectual interest or personal mission. Put your acceptance letters up on your wall. Recognize how profoundly fortunate you are to live in this country and to be presented with opportunities that most of your peers around the world would give virtually anything to experience.

3) Now for something practical. To the extent humanly possible, wipe out every assumption you have made up to this point about these schools that want you. Let there be no reaches, good fits or safeties. Throw away U.S. News and World Report. Stop obsessing over selectivity or prestige. You now know more - a LOT more - about colleges than you did when you first researched any of these places. You will start getting calls from admissions offices. Bulletin boards and facebook groups and admitted students websites will light up with people who actually attend these places. Treat all of this as a brand new game, and do not be hasty about putting ANY of the schools aside. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a student say, “I wish I had looked more closely at the schools to which I was accepted. I wish I had talked to more students who attended those schools and also more students at the school I actually picked. I was blinded by what I thought I knew, about what I thought was my first choice school.”

4) Most important step. If you possibly can, visit the schools that accepted you, even if you have visited them already. Let me repeat this. Go back for another visit. Remember, you know a lot more than you did a year ago. And now the visit is for real. When you arrive, act like you have never been there before. You will be amazed at how some of the schools seem to have changed since you first visited.

Why? It’s because you have changed and you are continuing to change now that you have those admission offers in hand. When you walk onto campus, try to avoid finding reasons not to like a place - things that turn you off. Instead, try the much more useful exercise of trying to picture yourself there as a student, thriving and enjoying both the educational opportunities and the campus scene. This may involve picturing yourself in some new ways as well. This is a good thing.

5) Do something that can be very hard: ask your mother, father and/or guardian what they truly think about the schools that have admitted you. Insist that they be specific about their impressions, and weigh what they say in the light of what you know about their sense of judgment. Why do this? First, they care about you and know you in ways you don’t know yourself. Second, they have usually been paying very close to what they observe. Third, they are going to be paying or helping to pay for this. Make it clear that you would like to make up your own mind. Make it clear that you may view certain things differently than they do. But ask them, listen to what they have to say, and weigh it carefully against what you think yourself.

(You may need to call a physician to revive them if you follow this piece of advice. Most parents will be quite surprised if a son or daughter approaches them directly, asks them to provide a detailed rundown of exactly what they think and why, then listens to them carefully. By doing this, you also save them, and yourself, the agony of their trying to communicate their views by subtle hints, bizarre facial expressions, comments to relatives in your presence, or desperate pleas.)

6) If you can follow these steps and hold off the rush to judgment, you may be very surprised to find yourself strongly considering a school you would not have originally put at the top of your list. And if instead, you end up confirming your first choice after all, you will have only done so after giving it a very sober review in light of the competition. This is not only healthy, but it is going to make you much more knowledgeable and realistic about what to expect when you arrive on campus. Remember above all else that NO college is going to be paradise, and that ALL colleges have something truly outstanding to offer you.

As much as we hope to see you at Yale next year, we hope even more that you will wind up at the school that feels most right for you.

Crew

I freely admit that before starting at Kilbourne there were a lot of sports I had never seen (at least not in person) such as Water Polo, Lacrosse, and Ice Hockey. This past weekend I had the opportunity to see another new sport for the first time - Crew. Ken Greim, a former student who is now attending Dartmouth in New Hampshire, is on the Crew team. Ken's team was racing in Boston and so I had the opportunity to go out and watch him race.

I was lucky enough that my hotel room looked out onto the river which led to one of my two favorite moments... The first came in the early morning hours when the team was out on the river warming up. I had opened up the curtains and was looking out and was so excited when I realized that it was not just other Dartmouth boats, but that it was actually Ken that I could see in his boat. The picture below is taken from my hotel room with Boston University in the background with Ken's boat on the river.

It was much easier to figure out if it was the "right" boat that I was looking for when I was actually at the race. Here you can see a picture of the Harvard and Dartmouth boats during the race. (Unfortunately, Dartmouth lost to Harvard, but they did beat MIT.)

And the Dartmouth boat at the finish line. (For the record, Ken is the second one from the end on the far right side of the boat.)

One of the interesting things that I learned about Men's Crew is that they have a tradition in which the losing teams give their racing shirts to the winning team. So, the goal is to win a racing shirt from all of your competitors during your collegiate career. Since Dartmouth did not win, they had to turn their racing shirts over to Harvard and that is why as they rowed back to the boat house in these next two pictures the team is no longer wearing their Dartmouth shirts.

(Ken is now second from left.)

Earlier I mentioned that I had two favorite moments - the second was when I actually saw Ken after the race and was able to congratulate him and talk to him in person. I am so proud of him - to take on an entirely new sport in college and to commit the time and energy required to succeed is truly remarkable!

Oh The Places *I'll* Go...

Have you missed me?!? It has been a while since I have been able to have access to my computer and blog and that is because I was incredibly busy visiting 8 different college campuses during the last few days of spring break. And, as you know, I ask you to take pictures of you somewhere on campus and so I do the same... :-)

I enjoyed visiting the following schools (in addition to West Point which you can see in detail in the previous post)

Dartmouth

Harvard

Boston College

MIT

Boston University

Wellesley

and Yale

On a side note, today was a busy day with lots of students moving through my office. Seniors, please remember that all of your local scholarships are due to the secretaries in the counseling center tomorrow! (No late scholarship applications can be accepted so make sure you have everything you need tomorrow.)

West Point

Consider this your advanced warning, but this post has a LOT of pictures! (I did try to help matters by resizing them all to smaller resolution so hopefully the post won't take forever to load, but if you want to see more of the details that are lost on the web, stop in my office next week when we are back at school and I will be more than happy to show them to you.)

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.

It is an absolutely GORGEOUS campus and it was a wonderful experience. I am so thankful that I had the chance to visit in person as no pictures can do it justice - including my own. (Not that this is going to stop me from showing you lots of pictures.) If in the future you are ever considering attending the USMA, I strongly encourage you to visit the campus. It is worth it!

For me, the best part of the experience was the interaction I had with the people on campus. This started with Major Will Freds, an Admissions Department Regional Commander for the Great Lakes Region. (I may have messed up his title, but he was very impressive.) Major Freds is also a West Point graduate and has served in a variety of different areas including Kentucky, Germany, and Iraq before returning to West Point in his current admissions department role.

This is a picture of me with Major Freds standing on the balcony of their brand new library overlooking part of campus.

One of the things that I really appreciated from my visit at West Point was the fact that the new "plebe's" or first year cadets are all assigned to an officer to help them with their transition into life at the USMA. The way that I learned about this transition program was as we walked through campus, Major Freds was greeting a variety of different cadets and to several of them he talked about having them up to his house for Easter this weekend.

In keeping with the people I met on campus theme, I also had a chance to briefly visit with Taylor Castelli, a 2007 WKHS Graduate and current West Point Cadet.

The picture on the left is Taylor standing in the Mess Hall. The picture on the right is (obviously) me with Taylor and we are standing in front of their brand new library.

The library is very impressive and was just opened this school year. Below is a picture on one of the floors of the library which shows a back area of books and the front study areas.

Looking out from the library there were some incredible views. The picture above shows a variety of different points of interest. The main large green field is their parade field. This is where the cadets line up and do their parades and the stands that you see would be packed for this type of an event. Then beyond the fields in the background you can see the Hudson River. I learned yesterday that the way the river makes an "S" like curve around the campus is a primary reason why George Washington picked this as the area to build West Point. And, if you look close, you will be able to notice the people on the far right side of the picture - that is part of the USMA Varsity Baseball team - who were preparing for their game. All cadets at West Point are required to participate in athletics on some level - some will play a varsity (Division 1) sport and others will participate in more intramural like levels. In fact, the time that I was able to see Taylor was in between his classes and before his sport. (Taylor told me ahead of time that it was before his wrestling practice, which I found was his way of either not wanting me to worry about him or his best way to describe it without me asking a million questions, but the reality was that he was participating in "Grappling" which is really a more hand to hand combat sport.)

The picture below shows one of the main classroom buildings on campus, but what is deceiving about this picture is that the building is actually 4 stories tall, but it drops down toward the river so you enter on the top floor of the building. And, as you can see, parking is a challenge on their campus (just like every school in the country) and so they use the rooftop of this building for additional parking.)

These next few pictures are inside the classroom building pictured above. The cadets in the halls and then, at the start of class, everyone has disappeared into their classrooms and all that remains in the halls are their coats hanging neatly on the hooks and their bookbags placed on the floor outside of their classroom.

This next picture shows the actual size of the classes at West Point - an average of 17 students! It was definitely a small class setting and it was also interesting to learn that the cadets (and I keep wanting to type "students" or "kids" as I am writing this, but they have earned the title cadets so I am trying to call them by their appropriate title) are given everything that they will need... this includes their uniforms, bedding, computer, etc. And, I also learned that everything has it's place and is supposed to be in a particular area within their room.

The teachers are a combination of civilian professors or military officers. The cadets in this class were taking a quiz and their professor was walking around in the hallway instead of being in the classroom with the kids because of the Honor Code that all the cadets are required to follow and is prominently placed in the middle of campus (as seen below).
The main walkway areas on campus give you a feel for the beauty of West Point...

This is one of several of the logos which are in the ground through the middle of the walkway areas. The buildings are all stone as you can see...

And the cadet chapel (right side above and pictures below) was stunning...

(Picture on left is stained glass in chapel. Picture on right is view from cadet chapel looking back down over part of West Point campus.)

The pictures below show some of the barracks (also known to the rest of us as dorms) where the cadets live.

The cadets are all required to eat breakfast and lunch in the Mess Hall and Thursday night dinners. Other nights they have options on when or where they can eat. The Mess Hall looks like something straight out of the Harry Potter movies. It was very impressive. The cadets are required to be in a particular uniform when eating in the mess hall which is part of why they will elect to eat somewhere else for dinner at times.

(Left is entrance to mess hall and below is the main picture into the mess hall followed by a look back at the mess hall with the stained glass window.)

And finally, my "Oh the Places You'll Go Picture" - since yes, I ask you to take a picture somewhere of you on every campus that you visit, here is a picture of me in front of the Admissions Office. :-) And, it was cold here yesterday, so it is no wonder that the USMA uniforms are made of wool! :-) Hope your break is adventerous and informative as my trip to the USMA was and I am hoping for improved weather for the rest of my trip... :-)