Spring Break!

We are officially on Spring Break! I hope that you have a wonderful and relaxing break.

Good luck to all of the individuals, groups, and teams that will travel this week. Don't forget, if you end up on a college campus, please take a picture for the "Oh the Places You'll Go" display. 

I will only update a few times over break and I hope you enjoy your time off.  I look forward to seeing you on the 6^th and hearing about what you enjoyed most about your week.  Have a great spring break and please stay safe!

3rd Quarter Grades

As you know, this week started the 4th quarter.  All of your teachers have now updated and posted your 3rd quarter grades on Infinite Campus.  Students and parents both should be checking online to see your 3rd quarter grades.  It is also an important moment to take a look at how you have been doing in classes and determine if you are being successful in achieving the goals you had established for yourself.  If your grades are not where you had hoped they would be at this point in the semester, consider what changes you can make to help you reach your goals.  And remember, we can always brainstorm other strategies if what you've been trying is not working.  At the very least though, please log in and look at your 3rd quarter grades in Infinite Campus.

Academic Honors Night

Congratulations to all of the students who were honored at tonight's Academic Honors ceremony. As a component of the award ceremony, students are presented with gold, silver, and bronze keys in recognition of their achievements in academic excellence.

Gold keys are awarded to students who have earned a cumulative GPA of a 3.5 or higher at the end of 7 full semesters. 22 of "my" students were among tonight's gold key recipients.

Silver keys are awarded to students with at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA at the end of 5 full semesters. 26 of "my" students received silver keys tonight.

Bronze Keys are awarded to students with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher at the end of 3 full semesters. 28 of "my" students were presented with bronze keys.

Congratulations to each of you for your academic commitment and achievements!

Summer School

As of 10:00 this morning, summer school registration is now open. I know that a lot of students have indicated that they intend to take a class in summer school and so I wanted to make sure you know that you can now sign up. There is limited space available so it is important to make sure you sign up for soon if you are planning on taking summer school classes. Please be aware that not every class is offered in summer school and seats are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you failed a class during the 1st semester, you need to discuss signing up for summer school with your parents. The success rates for students who take summer school is very strong because you are only asked to focus on one subject at a time and it is a more relaxed environment.

This year summer school will be held at Worthington Kilbourne High School and most courses classes taken to try to get ahead will cost around $200. (Students on the free and reduced lunch program have a discounted rate.)  And those who are taking credit recovery classes will be able to attend for free!

The first term of summer school will run from June 8th until June 25th.  The second term of summer school runs from July 6th to July 23rd.  Please note that for all of the classes taught by a teacher (not the online credit recovery courses) the terms of summer school represents the semester of the class.  So, for example, if you failed 1st semester, you would need to attend the 1st session to make up the credit.

The summer school information and registration is completely online.  You can also access the information on the district website under district info and then summer school.  Here is a link.

Some students and parents have had questions related to taking classes through a different school district or through Online schools.  The basic answer is yes, you are allowed to take classes through any accredited school.  Please be sure that they are accredited before you sign up for their classes.  After you have completed your course, they will give you a transcript and you will need to provide that to us at WKHS so that we can transfer your credit.  As these courses are not coordinated or run by Worthington, I don't have a lot of details about options, but a Google search has been successful for students in the past.  My top tip is to make sure you are signing up for their summer school classes because I do know that in the past students found there was a significant difference in the cost if they were taking a class online during summer school vs. taking a class online during the school year.

Reminders

Just wanted to remind you of a few important things for the week ahead.

Tomorrow is a late start day.  (Not as late as the OGT late starts, but all of you get to start classes at 9:10 instead of 7:45.)  Enjoy sleeping in!

Those students taking the math compass test tomorrow - don't forget to report to 204 for the testing at 8:00, 9:30 or 11:00 depending on what time you had signed up to complete your test.

All students looking to earn free college credit in classes next year MUST turn in the College Credit Plus intent to participate form by Friday.  This is a firm deadline and we cannot extend it so please make sure you get your form turned in to us!  Just as a reminder, this includes college classes on the college campus, college classes taught by college instructors at WKHS (English, Psychology, Government, or Sociology), and the regular WKHS classes taught by the WKHS teachers which can get you college credit for the exact same class you may have already signed up to take (Pre-Calculus, Honors Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, Intro to Programming Logic and Intro to Business).  If you have any questions about College Credit Plus - stop and see me or watch the video on the counselor website.  (www.wkhscounselors.com).

Also, there will be a Student/ Staff basketball game on Thursday evening which is always a comical (and usually not very competitive), fun event.

And, I am quite confident that I don't need to remind you that we only have 5 days of school before spring break!  :-)

Idea for Senior Parents

This is actually a post for parents instead of for students...

As you may know, I tend to read a LOT of articles and follow a range of blogs and other resources related to college applications.  And I have to admit, this is the first time I have ever heard of the idea that is mentioned in this article and I absolutely LOVED it!  (So much so that I sent the article to my sister to remember when my niece is a senior in high school 6 years from now. Ha!)

The article is How to Survive the College Admissions Madness.

The idea that the article shares is that parents whose son/ daughter is awaiting admissions decisions from competitive schools write their child a letter and give it to him/ her BEFORE the decisions arrive reminding your child that your pride and love for them is not dependent upon getting accepted to a particular college.  Wow!  Have I mentioned that I love this idea?!?

I think back over each year of working with students and parents who were disappointed by not getting accepted to a college of their choice and so often the students feel that people are just saying things such as they are proud of you as just a way to make them feel better (even though I know that this is not really the case.)  So, I strongly encourage all parents of seniors to consider taking a moment or two and sitting down and writing a letter to your son or daughter and give it to him or her ahead of their admissions decisions being announced.  (The sample letter in the article can give you a good idea of what you might talk about in your version.)

Local Scholarships

The local scholarships are now completely updated and available on the Kilbourne Counselor website at www.wkhscounselors.com.  These scholarships provide a great opportunity for students to earn some additional financial help for college. And, with the scholarships being local, it means that there would be less people applying for the scholarships (compared to national scholarships) which gives you a better chance of receiving one of the scholarships.

Please take the time to carefully read through the criteria for the scholarships to see which ones would be appropriate for you to apply for and then start working. When you go to the WKHS Counselors website and click on the local scholarships area you will be taken to the listing of all of the scholarships and it has the link to each scholarship application.

Most of the deadlines for completed applications is the end of the school day on April 15th (some are earlier) and no late applications can be accepted. I cannot stress enough the importance of planning ahead and starting to work on these scholarships now!

Also, please pay attention to see if the applications require a written recommendation letter and ask your teacher(s) for a letter as soon as possible - especially if they have not already written a rec letter that you can use for the scholarships.

Also, don't forget that a complete list of all the other scholarships that we are aware of are also featured on the Kilbourne Counselor website in the scholarship area.

St. Patrick's Day & Crisis Communication

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 

Every year on St. Patrick's Day I cannot help but think back to March 17, 2006 when I was working as a school counselor at Grove City High School. On that day two students were in a critical car accident. One student passed away and the other, fortunately, lived. Each time I think about this crisis, I remember how much it impacted the families involved as well as the entire school. So, I feel this is an appropriate time to review the importance of communicating when crisis situations occur. It is important that the school is aware of any major incidents that impact students from the school as soon as possible so that we can help prepare to support students. For the record, if you are trying to reach me, I tend to check my e-mails over weekends, holidays, and the summer for any critical incidents, but I do not check my school voicemail, so the best way to pass along any important, timely news is e-mail. Obviously, my hope is that this information is never needed and that we will not face any crisis situations in the future, but I also know that it is better safe than sorry.

Enjoy the rest of your St. Patrick’s Day and please, be safe today and every day!

AP Test Registration Reminder

If you are currently enrolled in an AP course, the deadline to sign up to take the end of course AP exam is next week.  Taking the AP exam (and doing well) is how students have the opportunity to earn college credit for the classes you completed in high school.  Please remember that the colleges are responsible for establishing their own policies about what scores are required to be able to earn credits at their school.  The fee for each AP exam is $100 (unless you're on free/ reduced lunch) and must be submitted online by March 24th.  Additional information about the AP tests and the online registration link is available on the Worthington website at www.worthington.k12.oh.us and then you will find it in the Gifted Services area (which is located in the Departments tab).

Did you get accepted?

This is going to be a big few weeks for college admissions decisions. Most of the schools that have yet to announce their decisions will be releasing them over the next several weeks. This can be a very stressful time for students. Try to take a deep breath and relax – you have done the best job to put yourself in the best situation possible with your applications. If you are stressing out awaiting the news, feel free to stop in and see me so we can talk about it.

The other reminder that I would like to make is intended for all students (in all grades) who are not currently waiting to hear if you have been accepted into a particular school – getting the decision can be hard enough, but often the more difficult aspect is being asked, “Did you get accepted?” by well-meaning friends. Trust me on this one, if they were accepted, the students would be telling everyone – you won’t need to ask. If they don’t offer up the news sharing if they were accepted or not, then be sensitive to the fact that more than likely they did not get accepted and don’t ask about it as it puts them on the spot to share disappointing news.

When You Grow Up

What do you want to be when you grow up? When you were little perhaps it was a professional athlete, a superhero, or an actress. Chances are that now that you are in high school you have started re-thinking some of your potential career choices. While there is still a lot of uncertainty and, most likely, your thoughts may still change more in the future, it is time to start figuring out what you would like to be when you grow up.

I *know* you hate it when I say this, but the reality is that you need to know yourself and follow your passions. If you love what you do and you are willing to work hard then you will be able to find success. Everyone has their own unique gifts and talents and it is imperitive that you determine what career will meet your needs. This means you have to figure out what is important to you and how you can incorporate that into your life. For example, for those who love sports it can be hard to imagine life without athletics and, many times, these individuals will pick (at least initially) careers that involve sports - athletic training, sports management, sports marketing, etc. This might be the perfect combination - or maybe not. Knowing yourself and knowing what you have a passion for is important in determining what characteristics of a job will be best suited for you. In this example, the sports minded person might pick a career that involves teamwork where groups of people work closely together to reach a common goal. Or, if you decide that you are not going to meet a passion in your life through your career, then it is important that you still honor that influence in some other way - perhaps playing on an adult recreational team or coaching a youth sport team. While this example deals with sports the same concept applies to any of your interests and passions - art, music, learning.

So, while I am not asking you to abandon your dreams of fame and fortune as the professional athlete, superhero, or actress, I am asking you to start thinking seriously about what will make you happy, what is important to you, and how a career can help meet your needs and goals in life.

To help you explore careers which might be a good match for you, we will be hosting a career fair for all WKHS students on the morning of April 24th.  We hope to have over 200 professionals at school to share insights about their jobs and are still looking for more adults who can come to school to help.  If your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, or family friends would be willing to talk to Kilbourne students about their jobs, I hope you will invite them!!!  We need people from ANY job field.  A few specific areas that we have been struggling to find people who will volunteer their time includes: chef, crime scene investigators, healthcare jobs, fashion related careers, international business, engineers, tv related jobs, computer science related jobs, mechanic, electrician, HVAC, and sports related careers.  In all honesty, if your parents or any other adult in your life is willing to help at the career fair we definitely want them at the career fair!  All adults willing to help are asked to answer a career questionnaire (they can be brief in their answers) and indicate "yes" on the last question about attending the career fair.  If they are willing to share information about their jobs, but can't attend the career fair we will use their information to put together a career resource handbook that you can utilize in the future.  The career questionnaire can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/wkhscareerfair

Ohio Graduation Tests (OGT's)

Next week the Sophomores will be taking the Ohio Graduation Tests (OGT's). Each day will feature a different test -Monday is Reading, Tuesday is Math, Wednesday is Writing, Thursday is Science, and Friday is Social Studies.

I cannot stress the importance of EVERY sophomore student attending school all five days to complete the tests. If you are too sick to make it to school you will have to take the test during the following week which is not as ideal of a testing environment.

Freshman, Juniors, and Seniors are probably looking forward to OGT week because they have the special added treat of a few extra hours of sleep. :-) The busses are running twice next week in order to make sure that the Sophomores are able to arrive at school in time for their tests and also for everyone else to come to school after the extra time sleeping in each morning. Classes for the week will only be 35 minutes long so the week should go pretty fast for you.

For your information below is the daily bell schedule for OGT week:
OGT Tests: 7:45 - 9:35
1st Period: 9:50 - 10:25
2nd Period: 10:30 - 11:05
3rd Period: 11:10 - 11:45
4th Period: 11:50 - 12:25
5th Period: 12:30 - 1:05
6th Period: 1:10 - 1:45
7th Period: 1:50 - 2:25
8th Period: 2:30 - 3:05

Also, juniors, don't forget, if you are interested in taking the ZAPS ACT prep class, please make sure you register online as soon as possible.

Good luck on the OGT's!

College Decision Terms

Over the next few weeks more and more students will begin hearing from colleges and I thought it might be helpful to review some of the most common terms you will see in response letters from colleges. Everyone hopes they will receive nothing but acceptances, but the reality is far too often that is not the case. Below are some of the more common college related terms/ phrases for admissions decisions. If you receive a letter and you are uncertain about what it means, please feel free to let me know or to contact the college directly. I would also like to remind you that we keep track of the admissions decisions that you receive from your colleges so please stop in and keep me posted on what you are hearing from each of the schools.

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

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

- Decision Deferred: The college is not sure yet… usually they will tell you what additional data/ information they are interested in receiving to help them make their decision. The most common piece of data they will look for are updated grades. Please be sure to follow through on getting this information to them promptly.

- Wait List: The wait list is not a denial, but it is not an acceptance either. Colleges use wait lists as insurance to make sure that their freshman class will be the appropriate size. If enough students decide to attend, the college will not accept anyone off of their wait-list. If you are interested in accepting a spot on a college's wait list, stop in and see me so that we can discuss some of the steps you should take to put yourself in the best situation should the college be able to accept students off of their wait list.

Summer Volunteers

Volunteers make a significant impact - not only are the people that you help impacted, but by reaching out to help someone else you are also changed for the better. There is not just one choice about what you can pursue as a volunteer project. Community service opportunities are as different as each individual who decides they want to help make a difference in the world around them. The sky is the limit and I encourage you to find something that inspires you.

As the weather starts to get warmer (thankfully!) and we begin looking toward the summer, I thought it might help you if I mentioned that the Ohio State University Medical Center allows high school students to volunteer during the summer. (They only utilize college students as volunteers during the school year, but are willing to work with high school students in the summertime.) They only accept applications for volunteers between March 1st and April 30th. Volunteers must be at least 16 years old. If you are interested in applying, visit their website for an application and additional information.

In case you need a "reason" to push yourself to get involved through volunteering, please remember that many scholarships consider community service experience. It is not the number of hours you contribute, but rather the meaning and passion that inspire you to contribute in positive ways.

College Admissions Tests

Juniors, you should plan on signing up to take a college admission test this spring.  You can take either the ACT or the SAT (or both).  Most students will take at least one of the tests this spring and then will repeat the test later this spring or in the fall.

Please be aware that this Friday is the regular registration deadline for the April ACT.

Here are the upcoming test dates and the regular registration deadlines:

- April 18 ACT: Register by March 13th

- May 2 SAT: Register by April 6th

- June 6 SAT: Register by May 8th

- June 13 ACT: Register by May 8th

To register for the tests, please visit their websites.

ACT: www.act.org

SAT: www.collegeboard.org

March Students of the Month

On Friday morning a ceremony was held to recognize those students who were being honored as March Students of the Month. Students are nominated for this award by Kilbourne faculty and staff for their academic achievement, good citizenship, and/or service to the school or community. Students can only earn this recognition once in their high school career.

A special congratulations to "my" five students who were among those honored this month (L to R)- Michael Fischer, Jacob Eymann, Miriam Bassani, Abby Chilcoat, and Ranyah Abou Chahine. I'm proud of you!

2 Weeks Remaining

There is no question that the 3rd quarter has been incredibly challenging.  Historically, it is always one of the most challenging quarters as far as grades are concerned.  This year that typical dip has been magnified due in part to the cold/ snow days and the crazy schedules due to PARCC testing.  However, I have to be honest - these are all excuses.  They are legitimate challenges that require you to step up your game, but you do NOT want to end the quarter with your grades in a huge hole.  This quarter has just 2 weeks remaining.  You need to focus on finishing the quarter strong and taking the steps today that will help you to get to where you need to be when the quarter ends.

Please make sure that you are working with your teachers in any of the subjects you are struggling with and also remember to take advantage of the opportunity to work with the Academic Assistant's in the Teaching & Learning Center!  It consistently makes such a huge difference in grades for those students who are working with teachers and academic assistants to get caught up vs those who try to manage it on their own.

College Credit Plus

There have been lots of questions about the new College Credit Plus (CC+) program and so I thought it might be helpful if I gave a brief overview for all of you here.  If you have specific questions related to how it might work for you and your academic plans, please stop by and we can look at it together.

College Credit Plus provides the opportunity for students to earn college credit for free while still in high school.  The grades for your classes will be on both your high school and your college transcripts.  That is particularly important because you want to make sure you do well in the college classes.  There are a few different ways that CC+ can be utilized by students.

You can go to the college to take classes.  You will need your own transportation to the college in order to pursue this option, but you have the choice to enroll in classes of interest which are in the college's course catalog.  You will have to meet the pre-requisites for the classes you select and/ or place into that course.

You can take particular high school classes taught by WKHS teachers and earn college credit for them.  The classes which are options for this avenue of CC+ include Pre-Calculus, Honors Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, Intro to Business, and Intro to Programming Logic.  We will be holding a brief meeting in the auditorium during lunch periods next Tuesday for all of the students who have signed up for one of these classes to make sure you fully understand the steps you must take if you want to take advantage of the opportunity to earn college credit for the classes you have already signed up to take.  Please make sure you attend this meeting during your lunch because we will also talk about Compass testing that will be held at WKHS during this meeting and these are the placement tests most of you will need to take to be eligible to enroll in the college course.

You can take classes taught by college instructors at WKHS.  This is referred to as the model pathway of CC+.  Columbus State Community College instructors will be coming to WKHS to teach English, Psychology, Government and Sociology next year.  The classes will meet every other day for a 2 period block.  We anticipate that this block will happen during 1st/ 2nd period.  So, for example, during the first semester, English 1110 (Intro to Composition) will be taught from 8:00 - 9:20am on Mondays and Wednesdays and Psychology 1100 (Intro to Psychology) will be taught from 8:00 - 9:20 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  During the 2nd semester, the courses will be English 2367 (Composition 2) on Monday and Wednesdays again, POLS 1100 (US Government) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then Sociology 1100 (Intro to Sociology) will be taught on Friday mornings from 8:00 - 9:20, but this class will also have an online component as well that students will complete independently.  Students can take one college class or all of them - whatever meets your own individual plans and goals.

College Credit Plus is a state program with specific state mandated requirements that all students who want to participate must complete.

One of those requirements is that students and parents must participate in a counseling and information session prior to signing up to participate.  We held this meeting at WKHS on February 9th and had a great turnout, but I know other students missed the chance to attend and have decided that they might be interested in participating.  If you are in that situation, you can either watch the video of the presentation (it is available on the WKHS Counselor website) or you can go to a meeting that is going to be held at CSCC on March 14th (information about registering for this meeting is also on the WKHS Counselor website).

Another state requirement is that all students who intend to participate in CC+ during next school year must submit an intent to participate form to your high school counselor by April 1st.  One important component to keep in mind about this deadline is that although the state says it has to be turned in by April 1st, you actually must submit your forms to me by Friday, March 27th because we will be on Spring Break after that and so I won't be here to collect, compile and submit your data if you don't turn it in before break.

We are going to be having COTC and CSCC coming to WKHS to administer the Compass tests which are the placement tests for the college classes.  The dates and times are still being finalized, but we will make sure that all students who submit their intent to participate forms have the chance to get signed up.

There is additional information available on the WKHS Counselor website.  Right now it is on the home page of the site - just scroll down a little to find it.

As I mentioned, if you want to sit down and map out how this could actually look for you and your classes, please feel free to stop by and see me.

Senior Pictures

Seniors, hopefully by now you have all submitted your senior picture to the yearbook staff so that they have it for the yearbook.  If you haven't turned it in yet, please make sure you get it to Mrs. Mullen as soon as possible.  If you need someone from the yearbook staff to take a picture for you, Mrs. Mullen can also help you arrange that so please don't worry if you don't have the ability to pay for senior pictures.

I love having pictures of my seniors!  Yesterday I finally received my first senior picture for the class of 2015.  I can't even begin to tell you how happy that made me. :-)  I really want more senior pictures so if you are a senior student or parent reading this, I hope you will consider giving me one of your pictures. (PLEASE!!)

Stress Management

Stress levels have been running extraordinarily high over the last few weeks.  Hopefully having a day with a normal bell schedule today helped a little bit - at least in giving you a reminder that "normal" still exists.

For freshmen, the pressure and stress of enduring endless PARCC tests has been making a stressful impact especially as you try to figure out how to catch up in classes that you miss while testing. For upperclassmen, it seems the typical stress of this time of year along with the constant fluctuation of schedules and perhaps even extended time in classes that might not be your favorite, is creating stress.

While the recent testing schedules is certainly not ideal, the reality is throughout our lives there will be bumps and unexpected circumstances that cause difficulties beyond our control.  It is not realistic that you will have a stress-free life, so it is vitally important that we find ways that help us to manage the stress which comes our way.

What is a stress reliever for one person may not work for someone else so you will need to think about strategies that tend to work best for you.  One suggestion is to think back to other stressful times in your life and consider what you did in those situations that helped you to deal with the stress.  Below are just a few examples of some strategies that people have found effective.

Deep breathing is frequently overlooked as a strategy, but it is one of the most powerful and can be done in every setting.  Slowing down your body and decreasing your heart rate by focusing on your breathing can help shift the chemicals in your brain because when you are feeling stressed the chemicals that cause a "fight or flight" reaction are geared up putting your body on edge.  By breathing, you are showing yourself that you don't need to be prepared to have a "fight or flight" reaction and it can shift the chemicals in your brain so that you can relax.

Talk it out!  Talking to trustworthy people around you is an effective stress management strategy.  You can talk to family members, friends, teachers, religious leaders, siblings, and obviously you  can come see me to talk.

Distract yourself with something enjoyable.  Within reason positive distractions can help give you a break from the stress you are currently feeling.

Get the thoughts and feelings out of your head.  Journal, write, draw, or color.  Any safe source of personal expression can be helpful.

Physical activity is another beneficial strategy for managing stress.  Take a walk, work out, dance, run, lift weights, or play a sport you enjoy.

Embrace the power of music.  Performing music or listening to music can have a powerful impact on your mood and overall stress levels.  It's important to remember that the music we listen to or choose to perform often fits our mood.  Remember, while it is completely acceptable to pick music that fits your mood for a time, if you are trying to shift your mood and adjust how you are feeling, then you will need to remember that you may have to select music that will help encourage you and lift you up.

Believe me, I know that it isn't easy to deal with the stress of high school so please, remember that I am here to listen and help in any way possible.  Also, know that you have been through bad days before and your success rate for making it through them is 100% so you will be able to make it through this too.

Picking a College

Can you believe it is March 1st?!?  This year is going quickly - and yet all of today's snow didn't make it feel like we are approaching spring.  For seniors, the countdown to final decision time for picking the college of your dreams is rapidly approaching - exactly 2 months until you will all know where you will be attending next year. For juniors, you are beginning your search and trying to determine which schools you can imagine in your future.

There are so many resources available to review and consider to aid you in making your decision. Campus visits, reviewing the college websites, and meetings with admissions representatives when they visit Kilbourne are all great strategies for learning more about the college and finding the school that is the best match for you. I want to remind you that there are also a wealth of information and resources available in my office that you are welcome to come in and read to help you in making your choice. There are books that give perspectives of different colleges based upon the responses current college students have provided in surveys about school, others that rank selectivity of schools based upon majors, and others that provide insight about the schools from expert researchers. I know that this process can be stressful and overwhelming, but hopefully you are also finding it fun and exciting. As always, let me know how I can help you sort out your options.