The Scheduling Process

Each year students have questions about how the schedule will be created from the registration requests that they submit. I thought it might be helpful if I give you a quick overview of the scheduling process. (I am saying quick because it is actually boring and is known to cause massive headaches for those trying to put it all together and make it work for every student.)

By now, nearly everyone has selected their classes using the online registration system. (And if you didn't enter in your requests, I am working on picking classes and meeting with you regarding electives.) I met individually with all of my juniors and many of your parents. I have also started going through all of the registration requests submitted by "my" sophomore and freshmen students to make certain that the courses selected make sense based upon the previous classes and teacher recommendations. After I finish going through all of the freshmen and sophomore requests I will meet personally with any students for whom I have questions regarding the courses selected. All of this needs to be finalized by the end of this month and officially given to the administration as the "final" registration requests.

Once the final requests are submitted by all of the counselors at the end of this month the administration (principal and assistant principals) will look at the numbers for all of the courses selected to determine what, if any, courses do not have enough students signed up to be able to offer the class. After they figure this out they will provide that information back to the counselors with a list of students impacted and we will work with those students and their alternates list to find a suitable replacement course.

The administration will also begin working to determine the total number of sections of each class (for example English 1's) that are needed to meet the demand. They will then work to create a schedule with computer services that will create the smallest number of conflicts possible. This is a MUCH bigger challenge than most people would imagine. For example, if a class like AP Computer Science is only offered 1 time in the day, then they have to figure out what students want to take that class and try to make sure that the time of day selected to offer the course will not conflict with any other classes - especially any other classes that are only offered once in a day.

Eventually, they will create a schedule and "lock" it in place. When that happens they will then come back to the counselors with a list of all of the kids with conflicts in their schedules. In some cases, we are able to make minor adjustments - move a few classes around and make the schedule work. In other instances, we will have to work with the student to make tough decisions about what classes they do or do not want to take and use the alternates to find other courses that would work and still meet requirements toward graduation.

And that's it - we will ultimately get the schedule set just how we want it and hopefully all of you will pass all of your classes 2nd semester so that we don't have to go back and add anything into your schedule or change classes that you no longer meet the pre-requisites for, but all of those types of changes will happen after the final grades are submitted in June.

I hope that helps you to understand what is going on with the scheduling and registration process. It is a long and tedious process and I appreciate your patience.

PE Waiver

The PE waiver is just what it sounds like - it provides the opportunity for students to waive having PE as a required class for graduation.  This option is available to students participating in high school athletics including cheerleading and marching band.  (For ease of explaining and writing this, when I refer to sports or athletics throughout this post, please know that it also includes marching band.)  All students must still earn the full 20 credits to graduate from high school, this waiver would simply mean that what has typically been required (1/2 credit of Physical Education) would not need to be included in the 20 credits earned.

The option to utilize a PE waiver is open to any current 9th, 10th, or 11th grade student (as well as all future, incoming Kilbourne students).  The waiver option is NOT available to any current 12th grade students because athletic participation during your senior year does not count.

In order to utilize the waiver, students must successfully complete two full seasons of athletics.  This can be 2 different sports in one year, it could be 1 sport over two years, or even 1 sport one year and another sport the other year.  So, for example, if I participate in both football and basketball in the same year, I could apply for the waiver.  If I participate in football as a sophomore and again as a junior, I could apply for the waiver.  If I participate in football as a sophomore and track as a junior, I could apply for the waiver.

The waiver option went into effect last year, so any sports completed prior to the start of the 2013-14 school year do not count toward the two sports needed to meet the waiver requirement.  So, essentially, as of August 2013, every student began with "0" sports and then will have to fully participate in 2 seasons before the end of junior year to be able to apply for the waiver.

In order to have your sport counted as one which can be used for the waiver, it must be an approved high school sport.  This means that your club sport participation, like club soccer or club volleyball, is not included in the waiver eligibility.  Also, bowling, dance team, and the competition cheer team are all club teams and not high school sponsored athletics and so they are not eligible for the waiver option.  Additionally, team managers and statisticians cannot count their involvement as a season toward the waiver.

Students must complete a "full season" in order to have the sport count which is considered from the first practice through the last event or banquet.  If a student is "cut" from a team, quits, or has an athletic/ activity code violation which requires them to forfeit 50% or more of the season, then that season would not be able to be used to meet the two-season requirement.  If you were to get hurt, the injury will not eliminate the option of having the season count if the principal, coach and athletic director concede that the student actively participated and made contributions in spite of the injury.

Many students asked if it could be a partial waiver because they had already completed one of the PE required courses and would only have 1 season of sport eligibility and the answer is no, there is no ability to mix and match.  If you have already completed a PE course, you can still utilize the waiver to eliminate PE as a required course, but you must complete 2 seasons of sports in order to apply for the waiver.  The bottom line is that 0 seasons of sports = needs PE/ doesn't meet the waiver eligibility requirement, 1 season of sport = needs PE/ doesn't meet the waiver eligibility requirement, and 2 seasons of sports = meets the waiver eligibility requirement and can apply for the waiver (therefore doesn't need PE classes).

The PE Waiver application is available in the Co-Curricular Office and on the WKHS Counselor Website.  When you finish your season of participation, you will get a signature on the form by your coach.  After you have completed two seasons (and have both signatures on the form) you will submit the waiver form to Mr. Todd and he will verify your completion.  Mr. Todd will turn the forms into me (or he will have you bring it to me) and we will then you will have fulfilled the PE requirement.  

As I have been reviewing student's course requests for next year I noticed that there are a lot of students who are waiver eligible, but have not turned in their waiver application.  Please, make sure you get the form, get it signed by your coaches, get it approved by Mr. Todd and bring it to me as soon as possible!

Where do you sit?

Are you looking for strategies to help you retain more information in your classes? Being able to recall the information covered by your teacher in class is essential in helping students excel in classes. One aspect you may not be aware of is that where you sit in class has a significant impact on your retention rates. 

Multiple research studies have shown that if you sit in the front row you have better retention rate than those who sit in the back rows. Additionally, the closer to the center you sit the better your retention rates. So, if you have the choice of a seat in a class, try to select the front row and middle of the room (assuming that is where your teacher stands as you want to be seated close to the speaker). If you cannot be in the front and center, then your second choice should still be in the front row just out from the center. Your next choices from that point would be to continue sitting in the center seats as close to the front as possible, but definitely in the middle. The places to avoid would be the back rows on the outside edges as retention rates in those areas are significantly decreased. 

In many ways I suspect this probably seems obvious to you as when you are sitting in the front and center, right in front of your teacher, you are less likely to be working on assignments for other classes or to get distracted and doodle or daydream. Even if your teachers assign your seats, if you have trouble paying attention and want to improve your retention rates, consider asking your teacher if you could move your seat to help maximize your retention rates. Also, when you are picking a seat, don’t forget that the location isn't the only key to retention - you also need to be sure that you are picking a seat that will be away from other distractions such as your friends.  (And yes, I know, it is fun to sit near friends, but it makes it much more difficult to pay attention when distracted by your friends.)

ZAPS ACT Prep Class

At the end of each year we survey the senior students as a way to help evaluate what we are doing and to identify areas that need improvement. Students have shared that they would have liked to have more ACT/ SAT preparation options.  We have consistently heard from ACT representatives that the best preparation is a rigorous high school curriculum, but we wanted to try to be responsive to the student feedback we have received. As a result, we investigated several test prep course options to try to find one that would work with us on scheduling and would be a cost effective alternative.

We were thrilled to find ZAPS, a test prep company, who has offered to work with our students by providing a course that will span 3 mornings on March 16, 17, and 18 from 7:45 - 9:30am during the late start times during OGT testing.  Since the prep class will take place during the mornings while sophomores are taking the OGT, you will not miss any of your WKHS classes by participating in the prep class.

An informational letter including registration instructions was e-mailed to the parents of all junior students. The cost of this 3-day ACT prep course is $79.99. If you are interested in participating, please be sure to register as soon as possible to make certain that you don't get closed out of the course.  If you plan on participating, you need to register online at http://register.doorwaytocollege.com.

Scholarships

As you are working on completing your financial aid paperwork it is only natural that your thoughts will turn to the overwhelming costs associated with attending college. Right about now, many seniors are so relieved to finally be done with their college applications that it can be hard to get motivated to complete scholarship applications. Several years ago I remember one student who complained all the way through his scholarship application and he ended up getting it done and submitted within hours of the deadline. As it turned out, he ended up receiving the scholarship and it was a significant scholarship (although, for the record, I believe that any scholarship received is significant as it is money that you do not have to pay on your own). Looking back, this student shared that he couldn't imagine earning that amount of money for just a couple of hours of work to complete the scholarship application.

I tell you this story to try to remind you that while I understand it can be hard to stay motivated to complete scholarship applications when only one or perhaps a handful of students will receive the scholarship award, it will be worth it if you receive a scholarship.

I also need to clarify that most money does end up coming directly from your colleges, but there are so many other places to look for scholarships and you should consider all of the options to try to help make your college experience even a little more affordable. For example, do your parent's employers offer scholarships for dependent children? What about your place of worship? If you volunteer for an organization, do they offer scholarships for their student volunteers? There are also countless scholarship search websites where you can complete personalized searches for other qualities and characteristics that would be ideal for you. If you want to see some of these sites, please check out the WKHS Counselors website at http://www.wkhscounselors.com/.

Cold Days & School

Are you enjoying our 2nd long weekend in a row?  Like many of you I was hoping that we would end up with a cold day and so I brought home a bunch of work that I needed to get accomplished.  These two days have been a huge asset for me to be able to get caught up on some of the work that I needed to do.  I hope that you have also made use of these days and were able to get caught up on anything you were behind on and prepared for the weeks ahead.

Obviously, one challenge of the cold days is that it impacted the PARCC testing schedules.  On Monday everyone will be on Schedule C.  (Schedule C is pretty close to our regular bell schedule with 3rd period being a little longer than the rest of the classes.)  For the freshmen students, Monday will be your 3rd day of English testing.  Tuesday through Friday will be the math tests.  So, the test order is remaining the same and we are just bumping everything out a few days.  Hopefully you are all making every possible effort to be in school for the testing each day, but if you were sick and had to miss, you will make up the tests that you missed after we get caught up on the initial test administration.

Stay warm and have a great weekend!

Failure is Not Fatal

I follow a lot of other blogs and one is written by another school counselor who works here in Ohio.  I read his post and immediately knew that I wanted all of you to benefit from his words.  He generously gave me permission to repost his thoughts about why failure is not fatal and I hope you will appreciate his insight as much as I did.

I couldn't help but laugh as I read the news tonight and the critics are jumping all over the weathermen and politicians in upstate New York. As you may know, everyone was predicting the snowstorm of "historic significance" all along the East Coast last night and today. The Governor, the mayor and anyone else who had any authority was making news statements telling the people to stay home, don't travel and don't go to school. The Governor authorized the closing of the transportation industry and warned anyone if they were out on the street, they would be arrested. According to all sources, they were getting two feet of snow with severe winds. Well as you are aware, New York city did not get the big snow storm that was called for and today everyone is apologizing and making excuses. The people of New York want to know how something like this could happen, especially in this day and age with all the technology we have available to us today.

As I read all this chit chat, I couldn't help but think... I guess the weather people failed us this time. This is one time that the people should be glad they got it wrong. I also thought that I am glad that the meteorologist don't just feel defeated and quit. What I have read is that they are going to go back and analyze their models and see what went wrong. I think that is a great idea and one we can all learn from.

See, there is nothing wrong with failure. If I can quote Winston Churchill "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts". We all make mistakes throughout our life, however, it is what we do with those mistakes that counts. We should always try to learn from our mistakes and then continue on. If we learn from our mistakes, we can become better people and better students. Did you know that Henry Ford failed in previous business efforts five times before he finally founded the successful Ford Motor Company. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas". He started several other business that ended in bankruptcy until he finally hit it with Disney Land. Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven, causing his parents and teachers to think he was mentally handicapped, slow and anti-social. Thomas Edison is quoted as saying "I have not failed. I just found 10,000 ways that wont work".

That is my hope for each and everyone of you. I hope that no matter what you work at in life, you will realize that failure is a part of life. It is said, if you never fail, you never have tried. You will fail, but you need to understand that you can learn from your failures. Please get back in the game and don't let it bother you. Remember all the great people throughout our history that have failed, and then think, maybe someday everyone may be quoting you and recognizing your great accomplishments. I have faith in all of you, and as always, remember... you were created for something great! I believe you truly were.

Thank you Mr. Fisher for you words - I whole heartedly agree - my students were destined for greatness and can achieve anything as long as you never give up!

Career Fair Help Needed

A committee of parents, teachers, counselors and other staff are currently working hard to plan the 2015 Career Fair. The upperclassmen may recall the Career Fair from 2 years ago as this is an event we hold every other year.  This year the event will take place on Friday, April 24th.

The Career Fair gives all students the opportunity to interact one-on-one, in an informal setting, (during the school day at WKHS) with a variety of different career professionals. I know that in addition to my students, many parents read this blog - and I need your help with this project! We need to find more people who are willing to attend the Career Fair. Adults can help by completing the career questionnaire by clicking on the link or visiting the WKHS Counselor website and clicking on the link there.  I would also love it if you could ask your family members, friends, neighbors, or colleagues to help by participating and completing the career questionnaire too!

Testing and Crazy Schedules

Tomorrow is not just a normal return to school - it is also the start of PARCC testing and lots of crazy schedules.  Our bell schedules will be very different almost every day and you will need to pay attention to what schedule we will be on each day.  The good news is that the administrators are going to post the schedule each day so that you will know what to expect.

I know that when schedules are inconsistent and with all of the testing over the next few months, stress levels are running high.  Please, try to take a deep breath and relax.  You will do great on the tests and we will all make it through the craziness of the schedules together.  As always, if you are having a difficult time making managing any of this, please stop by and see me!

Impressive Students

I wish I had pictures of all of these students, but this post has been a long time coming and I didn't want to wait any longer to be able to celebrate their successes.

Last month I was lucky enough to attend the musical, The Secret Garden.  So many of "my" students were involved in making this such a special show.  Sharing their talents on stage included: Steven Borchers, Grayson Brown, Nick Contreras, Katybeth Crider, and Emily Dyer.  But a major production like this cannot happen without the work of many people behind the scenes.  My students who played a vital role behind the scenes included Dylan Buford, Conor Conklin, Joelle Dirksen, Erica Eyen, and Jake Eyen.  A musical is never complete without music and Lance Brown and Anna Chen shared their talents in that way.  And, last but not least, the set was built by: Tamana Afrin, Max Alderman, Erin Beard, Ava Burson, Cainan Carlisle, Julian DeLa Cruz, and Chris Dessoir.

Many of the WKHS students have been recognized recently with Art Awards for their pieces including: Eaman Abay (Honorable Mention for Charred Remains), Jacob Bloom (Honorable Mention for Enchanged Pineapple Forest), Reed Costello (Honorable Mentions for Peace in Death and Mount Adventure), and Anne Dargenio (Honorable Mentions for Not These and Relief and Gold Key for Direction).

The Science Olympiad team has been excelling and several of my students were among those who have received ribbons for placing in the top 10 in their events including: Megan Coogan and Beth Findell (10th in Air Trajectory), Danielle Chan (6th in Bungee Drop), Beth Findell (8th in Mission Possible), and Vaishnavi Dasaka (7th in Protein Modeling).  They compete again next weekend - Good Luck!


And, I am behind on recognizing both my January and February Students of the Month.  As you may be aware, Students of the Month are nominated by a staff member in recognition for outstanding contributions in the classroom, school community or for their citizenship and character.  (I do have pictures of these students!)

Congratulations to January's Students of the Month: Eryn Chincheck and Jayme Chincheck

Congratulations to February's Students of the Month: Caleb Cravens, Gillian Ferguson, Kayla Beals, Grayson Biglin, Brandon Badowi, Sam Biglin, Grant Dierksheide, Luke Durbin, Tyler Davis, and not pictured Rebecca Dutko.

Congratulations to each of you for your impressive accomplishments!

Talent Abounds

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you are enjoying the long weekend so far and managing to stay warm in spite of the frigid temperatures.  Thursday night's talent show was the perfect way to kick off the long weekend.

I love the talent show each year because I am so impressed by the incredible students who perform and I also love seeing the students in the audience demonstrating their support for the performers.  The respect and encouragement for your peers is what makes WKHS such a special place.  I had quite a few of "my" students participate in this year's talent show.

All 4 of the emcee's for the event were mine.  Reed Costello, Anne Dargenio, Madeline Beal, and Dom Brown entertained and their Mean Girls piece was particularly funny.

Madeline and Anne also performed in the show.  (They were also amazing during the Empty Bowl Dinner.)

Grayson Brown sang.

The IB girls including Hana Estice, Tessa Bolon, and Ariel Bloom all danced.

Bailey Andrews sang.

Kayla Boudreault played the piano and sang.

Steven Borchers sang.

The Field Hockey girls including Brittany Ayers, Mackenzie Bennett, Holly Dargenio and Erica Eyen all danced.

And, Anne Dargenio showed that she was the busiest girl when she performed again.

It was a great night in honor of Timmy, a Bluffsview Elementary School student battling cancer, and all of the money raised will go to help those battling Childhood Cancer.

College Visits

We have a long weekend coming up - 4 days off!  It is a perfect time to make visits to colleges and explore their campus.  Most colleges will be in session on Friday so you have the opportunity to see campus with students around and can ask yourself if you can imagine being friends with the students on their campus.  And then Monday is a holiday when most colleges are not in session, but because they know that high school students are also off, many colleges plan special days to allow students to learn more of the different programs and opportunities available on campus.  No matter if you are trying to decide what colleges you might want to apply to in the future or if you are a senior trying to decide which of the many schools you applied to will be your future home, I hope you will try to take advantage of the long weekend and make visits.  Please also remember that I would like to have a picture of you somewhere on campus for every school that you visit!

Caps and Gowns

Seniors, did you order your cap and gown? Commencement is less than 4 months away and I am hearing that many of you still haven't placed your orders. The deadline to order your cap and gown is February 17th!  (That is next Tuesday!)  If you are among the students who haven't placed your order, please visit the National Recognition Products website to order your cap and gown online today!

I Love My Job

Today wrapped up the final day of National School Counselors Week.  It is interesting - here it is - a week when people across the country pause to recognize and celebrate the profession of school counseling, but I can't help but think that I am the one who needs to be thankful and express my gratitude.

I have the best job!

The fact that you allow me to walk alongside you during your high school years is not something I take for granted.  That you trust me to share in your pain on difficult days and also allow me to celebrate with you when you achieve successes is my greatest honor.  It doesn't matter if we are talking about school, college, friends, dreams, fears or even about seemingly nothing at all - you brighten my day and help me feel like I have a purpose.

It was interesting, yesterday, a gentleman was waiting in the hall outside of my office to talk to Mr. Nally and he asked me if Mrs. Beyer still worked at Kilbourne.  (Mrs. Beyer is a counselor who retired 7 years ago.)  After learning she had retired, he talked about the impact she had on him explaining that she changed his life by believing in him, helping him straighten his life back out when he had started down a path of making poor choices and that he was grateful.  He had graduated from Kilbourne in 1997 - that is before some of you were even born!  And yet, all this time later, he still remembered her.  Wow!  

I don't know if it's realistic to think that all of you will still remember much of the details of high school 18 years after you graduate, but if you do remember high school and think of me, I hope you will always know that I care about you, I believe in you and I am thankful to have had the honor of knowing you and being a part of your lives!

My greatest desire in life is to make a difference.  And, for the record, to me, making a difference isn't necessarily a big, grand impact - it is the small details, the connections shared, and the impact that we can hopefully have on one another.  I know without a doubt that you make a difference in my life.

Being your school counselor is the greatest job and I just wanted to make sure you knew as my own way of celebrating National School Counselors Week.  :-)  Have a great weekend!

Signing Day Celebration

Yesterday after school, 4 Kilbourne football players celebrated their commitment to play football in college.  I am lucky enough that 3 of these young men are "my" students.

Grant Chesser will be playing football at Notre Dame College.
Dom Brown will be competing at Otterbein University.
And JC Bartok will continue his football career at Bowling Green State University.

It was such a wonderful opportunity to watch as Grant, Dom and JC were surrounded by their family members, friends, coaches, and teammates to sign their letters of intent to play in college.  I couldn't help but think about the fact that this day of celebration was made possible because of each of their hard work, dedication and commitment - not just the glory and recognition for playing well in front of fans.  And, best of all, football is helping to lead each of them to their college education.

JC, Dom, and Grant ~ Congratulations!  I am so proud of each of you and thankful that I have had the opportunity to walk along this journey of high school with you.  You have made a positive impact at Kilbourne and I cannot wait to see what you will accomplish in the future at your respective colleges.

Parent/ Teacher Conferences

Parent/ Teacher conferences are coming up soon.  Conferences will be held on Monday, February 9^th from 5:00 - 9:00pm and on Thursday, February 12^th from 3:30pm – 7:30pm.  Each conference will be scheduled in 20 minute time blocks.  Conferences allow parents the chance to learn about your student’s classroom performance from the teachers, it allows the opportunity for you to ask questions and they provide an opportunity to build a dialogue with the teachers regarding thoughts and concerns you might have.

Parents, if you are interested in arranging to meet with one of your son or daughter’s teachers during conferences, the online system is now up and running for you to register for a meeting time.  Conferences will be scheduled as people sign up for them, so if you want to make sure you have times that work well for you, I strongly encourage you to register right away.  

Please follow the steps below to register for a parent/ teacher conference:

-  Go to http://ptcfast.com/schools/Worthington_Kilbourne_High_School.  This will take you to the conference scheduler.

-  Click on the teacher you would like to meet with for a conference.

-  Sign up by entering your child's last name, first name, your name and your e-mail address and then click Submit.

-  The next screen will direct you to check your e-mail inbox for a message with the subject "Select Date/ Team for Teacher Conference Now."

-  Open the e-mail and click on the link to select a conference time.  If you do not receive an e-mail, please check your junk/ spam folder.  Please note, you MUST follow the link in the e-mail in order to complete the sign-up process.

-  The link will take you to a Time Picker.  Available time slots will appear on this page.  If there are no available appointments that suit your schedule, please e-mail the teacher directly to set up an alternate meeting time.

-  After submitting your time slot, you will be prompted to finish, schedule another appointment for the same student or register another student.  Once you have completed your reservations, you will receive an e-mail confirming the date and time of your conferences and a link by which you can make changes to your date or time if you need to do so.

If you have any problems using the online conference registration system, please contact Julie Hammond at WKHS.  She can be reached by e-mail at jhammond@worthington.k12.oh.us or by phone at 450-6498.

Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, Monday, February 9th at 7:00pm is the Academic Options Night.  This evening will highlight opportunities available through alternate means including CC+ and Credit Flexibility.  We schedule this meeting on conference night to try to help parents minimize the number of nights that you have to be at school, so if you'd like to take advantage of both opportunities on the same night, simply select teacher conferences before 7 and then come and attend the college credit plus night in the auditorium.

College Goal Sunday

A few days ago most of us spent Super Bowl Sunday watching football (or the commercials).  I wanted to make that all seniors and their parents are aware of an event that is coming up next Sunday, February 8th, that is known as College Goal Sunday.

Completing the FAFSA forms can be intimidating for some students and their families. You should NEVER need to pay to have someone you complete these forms and free help is available if you are unsure of what to do. 

College Goal Sunday is a free workshop where you will have expert help from Ohio college financial aid representatives to complete and submit your FAFSA forms.  College Goal Sunday is held across the nation on Sunday, February 8th.  Ohio College Goal Sunday will feature a range of workshops all across the state. Sign in starts at 1:30 and the workshop begins at 2:00. There are multiple locations in central Ohio that you and your family can choose between. You will be working on the computers and completing the actual online FAFSA forms during these workshops so it is necessary to register in advance. 

The list of materials you should bring with you include: Your IRS 1040 tax return and W-2’s, your parent’s IRS 1040 tax return and W-2’s, your social security card and driver’s license, and any other benefit and income information.

If you are uncertain about how to fill out your FAFSA forms, I hope you will take advantage of this free help.  Remember, your financial aid deadlines are quickly approaching!

Academic Options Night

In addition to the wide range of courses that we have available here at WKHS, there are other academic options available to our students.

The College Credit Plus (CC+) program is an opportunity for high school students to take college courses while still enrolled in high school. This program has replaced what used to be called Dual Enrollment and PSEO.

In addition to being able to go to the college campus to take classes or taking classes with WKHS teachers that will also give you college credit, beginning next fall professors from Columbus State Community College will also be coming to WKHS to teach some classes.

There are a lot of details involved in participating in the CC+ program and students must complete and submit the paperwork before April 1st to indicate their intent to participate in the CC+ program in the following school year.

In order to explain all of the details of the program and to provide you with the forms necessary, all students and parents interested in participating in this program should plan to attend the Academic Options night next week on Monday, February 9th at 7:00pm in the WKHS auditorium.  This will be a joint meeting for all of the students and parents in Worthington.  Every college in a 30 mile radius was invited to participate in the meeting.  So far we have received confirmations that Columbus State Community College, the Ohio State University, Central Ohio Technical College, and Columbus College of Art and Design will attend to share the opportunities available through CC+ with their college.  Please see me if you are unable to attend this meeting as it is mandatory that you attend one and there are other options being provided at local colleges which you can attend if you can't make it to our meeting next week.

Credit Flexibility is another program we will highlight during the Academic Options night.  Credit flexibility allows students to earn credit based on a demonstration of subject area competency, instead of, or in combination with, completing hours of classroom instruction. Students are able to customize aspects of their learning around their interests and needs. It encourages student self-direction and motivates learners to develop new skills and fulfill their potential. Examples of credit flexibility opportunities include, but are not limited to, independent study, online learning, and demonstration of course proficiency.

I hope that all students and parents interested in learning more about College Credit Plus and credit flexibility will join us next Monday evening.

Balance

How are you feeling about the courses you selected for next year?  As I have told many students, I will be looking at your courses for the next few weeks and can continue to make adjustments to what you have requested if something needs to change.

One of the most important aspects I want you to keep in mind is the importance of BALANCE!  Yes, we want you to select courses that will be rigorous and help push you to learn and grow.  However, that needs to be balanced with what is reasonable.  

You want to challenge yourself with courses that will help prepare you for the future. At the same time you want to remember that this is high school and you need to be realistic about your expectations of yourself. There is a balance that should be sought - between too many "easy" classes and too many "hard" classes. You know yourself best and what you can handle. So while it may feel good to have every teacher recommend you for honors, AP or IB classes it doesn't mean that it would be the ideal situation to load your schedule with all advanced classes. You have to keep in mind the rest of your commitments - what sports, clubs, music groups, part-time jobs, and volunteer commitments do you have?  There needs to be time for you to relax and breathe, spend time with your family and friends and, perhaps most importantly, still get a good night's sleep each night.  

This year the Kilbourne staff created a Time Commitment Planning Calendar.  You can find copies on the Kilbourne Counselor website - www.wkhscounselors.com - or there are hard copies available in the counseling center.  A student helped by completing a sample calendar so that you can see what a completed one looks like and that is also on the Kilbourne Counselor website.  I strongly encourage you to consider your 2 busiest weeks and fill out the calendar to see what classes would be a good balance for you - being both rigorous (particularly in any area of passion) and reasonable.

If you are struggling to find that balance, please talk to your parents about the classes you are considering and stop down to see me so that we can discuss it too.

Enjoy your late start tomorrow.  Don't forget you start classes at 9:10am.