Register for ACT & SAT

Many seniors plan on taking the ACT or the SAT this fall.  If you are planning on taking one of these college admissions tests, it is important to register online prior to the designated deadlines.  For your convenience, here are the upcoming test dates and deadlines for each test:

ACT:
- September 9th - Register by August 4th
- October 28th - Register by September 22nd
- December 9th - Register by November 3rd

SAT:
- August 26th - Register by July 28th
- October 7th - Register by September 8th
- November 4th - Register by October 5th
- December 2nd - Register by November 2nd

Don't forget, you will need to register for the tests online at the individual testing company websites.

ACT - www.actstudent.org

SAT - www.collegeboard.org

Schedule Pick Up Days

It's hard to believe that it is time to start thinking about picking up next year's schedules, but I wanted to make sure all of you are aware of the designated days for you to pick up your schedules.

Tuesday, August 8th: 
9th graders - 8:30 - 11:00am
All students new to the district (regardless of grade) - 8:30 - 11:00am
12th graders - 12:30 - 3:00pm

Wednesday, August 9th:
11th graders - 8:30 - 11:00am
10th graders - 12:30 - 3:00pm

Don't forget, schedule pick up day is packed with lots of activities - finding your locker, getting your school picture taken, picking up your books, etc.

The process is paperless again this year which means that your emergency medical information, health forms, athletic forms and fees needs to be updated and paid online prior to coming through the schedule pick up lines.  Those forms will all be on the Worthington Schools website (not counselor website).

I know that every year there are questions about what you should do if you are not available to attend on your designated schedule pick up day.  If you cannot pick up your schedule and books on your designated day, then you can come to school on the other schedule pick-up day.  If you will not be able to attend either day, then you will not be able to pick up your your books or get your student ID made until the 1st day of school, but if you want, you can pick up your schedule and turn in any forms on Monday, August 14th or Tuesday, August 15th from 1:00 - 3:00pm.  (No morning pick up's on those dates though because we are all in mandatory meetings both mornings.)

I can't believe it is nearly time for the craziness of schedule pick-up days, but I am looking forward to seeing you!

E-mail

I realize that many students do not utilize e-mail regularly, however, it is very important to have an e-mail account of your own when it comes to college application time. College applications will ask you for your e-mail address.  Most of the time the colleges will use your e-mail as their way to communicate with you including notifying you of your admissions decision. (This also points out that it is important to regularly check your e-mail.) 

Some questions to ask yourself, Do you have an account? (If not, you need to create one. There are tons of free choices available - gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc.) Do you have an appropriate account? (In other words, is the name of your account appropriate as the college admissions officers will be seeing the e-mail address when reviewing your application... you don't want it to be "partygirl1" or something like that.) Is it YOUR account? (A lot of times students just rely on their parents e-mail addresses which works a lot in high school, but when you are at the college application point it is important to have your own account as many of the colleges will ask for your address and your parents address.)  Is the account you're planning on using DIFFERENT than your school wscloud account? (This is critical because while your wscloud account is important to be checking for school information, it doesn't allow students to accept e-mails from outside of Worthington schools... which means that this account will NOT work for your college applications.)

In addition to having an e-mail account, it is also important to remember to use proper etiquette when communicating with college representatives via e-mail. For example, when you need to e-mail admissions officers for any reason, as well as any other college representatives (advisor, professor, etc.) that you communicate with, please remember that the way you write your e-mail is a reflection of you. Please do not use text talk, avoid ALL CAPS, be mature, and write it in an official format “Dear _(insert their name with Mr/ Mrs)_, Text of your message, Sincerely, _(insert your name)__”.

Resume

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

It is important to compile a detailed list of:
- all of your activities including clubs, community groups, and sports
- awards received - it is helpful to know the award name, who it was from and the reason for the recognition
- community service commitments with hours
- employment with hours

You can do this informally (just don't lose it!) on a sheet of paper or you can use a resume template.  The format isn't as essential as having an organized, accurate list.  For what it is worth, most word document programs have a template, but they aren't necessarily focused on the types of activities and format that high school students might prefer and find applicable.  The Ohio Means Jobs K-12 website has a resume option that some students have really liked using so that is also an option you can check out.

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

College Visits

As summer continues, one of the great opportunities that students and parents have is to use your time to make visits to college campuses.  We are lucky that there are a great deal of colleges all within a short drive and each college that you have the opportunity to visit will help shape your view of what it is that you do (or do not) want in a college.  I strongly encourage you to see big schools, small schools, rural schools, urban schools, suburban schools - as much variety as you can get the better.  And no, it doesn't have to be just the colleges that you are seriously considering for the future - if you are near a campus either because you don't have anything going on here locally and so you decide to go make a visit at a local school or because you are on vacation and decide to visit a college in the area, all of it helps to provide you with a broader view of colleges that will make the process of evaluating your intended colleges easier.

Did you know that the WKHS Counselor website has tons of resources and information to help you on your visits?

Here is a link to the main college visit page:  http://www.wkhscounselors.com/index.php/college-visits

But once you are on that page, be sure to check out the sub-pages that are in the menu bar on the right side where you will find additional tips for making your visits and a lengthy list of questions that you can ask students and staff on the campus as well as ideas on things to reflect on yourself as you tour the campus.

Please be sure to take a picture of you somewhere on campus for me to have for the Oh The Places You'll Go board!

Also, I was thinking back on my trip to LA last year and my visits to the colleges that I had the chance to see and I was remembering how frustrated I was by some of the behaviors that I saw being displayed during the visits.  I wrote this post a year ago, but it warrants repeating... What NOT to do on Campus Tours

Halfway Point

Are you in summer mode, school mode, or something in between?  I am, without a doubt, in summer mode and it has been a challenge for me to switch back into school mode - even for short periods of time to update my blog.  I suspect that I am not alone in the challenge of finding a balance between enjoying the summer with the school work that I need to be doing. 

Can you believe that we are already over half-way through summer?  Hard to believe isn’t it? I hope that you have been embracing the time off, enjoying the warm weather, and finding time to connect and spend quality time with your family and friends.  Although I suspect that many of you, like me, wish the summer would slow down, I am looking forward to seeing all of you again and hearing about everything you did this summer.  Since we are at the half-way point, I thought a few reminders might be in order…

-         --  Summer work!  Many of you have signed up for classes that require summer assignments to be completed.  I know that procrastination is king in many of your lives, but please let me remind you that if you put off completing your summer work until August then you are going to start the year in a mad scramble and you will already be sick of doing school work before the year has even started.  Believe me, I understand that it is hard to work on something that doesn’t *have* to be done yet, but in the long run, using your time now will be worth it.  Plus, for those of you who participate in fall sports, the reality is that your summer will essentially be over when August arrives because practices will take over all of your free time.

-        --   Summer School!  Quite a few students are taking summer school classes through an online program (or still have a little work to finish up from your class taken through Worthington last month).  I always worry about the online classes since they require more self-discipline and like summer work are easy to procrastinate on until it is too late.  I have received transcripts already for a few students who have already finished their online summer school classes so I know that some of you are working on the courses, but if you have been putting this off, please get moving on your summer school assignments.

And even though I am reminding you all the stuff I want you to do to be productive, I do still want for you to find moments to enjoy the relaxation of summer - you do deserve it, but please remember that you don't want to leave all of your school responsibilities for the last moment!

AP and IB Test Results

Scores for those students who took one (or more) of the Advanced Placement Tests in May should be available online today. Many students assume that we know your scores in the counseling office, but we do not know how you did on the test unless you share that information with us. 

To access your scores log in using your college board account information.  (If you don’t have a college board account, you will need to create one.)

A lot of times students are curious about the policy various colleges have on how they grant credit based upon the AP scores. CollegeBoard maintains a list giving an overview of the college's policies.

Many WKHS students who took AP Lang were hoping to be able to use their scores to move directly to English 2367 (Composition 2) with CSCC next school year.  Please make sure you have scored a 3 or higher on the AP Lang test in order for this to be an option.  If I need to adjust your schedule to add you into Composition 1 because you didn't get the 3 as you had anticipated, or if you put Comp 1 into your schedule "just in case" and earned the 3 please let me know so that I can adjust your schedule and remove the class that you no longer need.  (Also, don't forget that you will need to send your test results to the CSCC CC+ office so that they know you have met the prerequisites to jump directly to Composition 2.)

And, as if AP scores being available wasn't enough, the scores from the spring IB tests are also available today.

No matter which tests you took, I hope you are happy with your scores!

Gather Insight

Summer provides a great time to be able to ask questions of your friends who are home from college about what their experience has been like and to gain insight from them. Types of questions you might want to consider asking include:

- What did they like best about college? Least?
- What best prepared them for college?
- Did their college search give them an accurate picture of what college would really be like?
- Are there particular things they would recommend that you look at or consider when researching schools?
- How large are the majority of their classes? Biggest class? Smallest?
- What activities did they get involved in on campus?
- Was it easy to make friends at school?
- If they could go back and repeat their high school years over again, would they have done anything different? 

- Would they still have made the same choice about where to apply and attend?

Those are just a few ideas to get you started. In my experience, students are always more than happy to spend some time talking about their time in college. And remember, you won't know unless you ask so there is no reason not to go ahead and ask!